The Parent Trap
by Cnerr
Summary: Alfred and Matthew were twins separated when their parents split up. Later they both go to Camp Walden and eventually learn they are brothers. They then come up with a plan to get their parents back together. They will switch places so that their parents will eventually have to meet to switch them back and get them to fall in love. Fruk/FACE family. Based on movie The Parent Trap.
1. Going to Camp

**This is just a small explanation for what this story is actually going to be. This fanfiction will be based of the movie The Parent Trap. It will mostly follow the one made in 1961 and a little bit of the newer one. This is because the older one is personally my favorite, but I like some aspects of the newer one as well. Now It won't be an exact carbon copy of the movie. I'm going to try to input a little creativity and add things as well as change them. In case you are wondering who is who France will be portraying the dad. Arthur will portraying the mother. Canada and America are going to be the twins separated at birth. Canada is living with France while America is living with Alfred. Kiku is the butler and the rest will be revealed as the story progresses. **

At Camp Walden a sleek silver car was driving towards the entrance of the camp. It drew some people's attention, because despite the car being British (this fact would have been known to you if you knew a bit about cars). The vehicle had an America flag stuck to the top of it. It had only stopped at the camp entrance for a few seconds when a teenager burst out of the passenger side and started laughing as he ran towards the camp. He had blond hair with one unruly strand of hair that stood up. He had blue eyes and was wearing glasses that were slightly skewed to the side suggesting he had been sleeping with them on earlier.

A few seconds later a Japanese man got out of driver side. He had short black hair and brown eyes. The suit he was wearing looked like it was just ironed. This contradicted his companion's messy and disheveled clothes. "Wait Alfred-san! You forgot your bags," the man yelled.

Alfred stopped in his tracks and had a goofy grin on his face. He turned around and ran back to the car. "I know that Kiku. I just wanted to stretch my legs."

Kiku looked at him with disbelief and started walking towards the trunk. He popped open the trunk and started pulling out suitcases. At a huge and heavy suitcase Kiku began to struggle, so Alfred had to help him out. After they were done getting everything out there was a total of two regular suitcases and one that was extremely large.

Kiku took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. "Do you need help taking these in Alfred-san?"

"No. I should be fine."

Kiku nodded and pulled glasses out of his pocket and gave them to Alfred. "I know how crazy you can get sometimes so I grabbed your spare glasses."

"Thanks. And don't worry. I remembered to bring extra hamburgers in case they don't serve them." Kiku stared at the suitcases and got a little worried. "I know what you're thinking. I remembered to bring ketchup."

Kiku got a horrified look on his face. "How did you store them?"

"I put them in a cooler with some ice. How else would I store them?"

Kiku sighed with relief. "It's time that you should be going. I hope you have a fun time Alfred-san."

Alfred nodded and his eyes started watering. He sniffed for a few moments before he hugged the small man and started crying. "I don't want to leave you! You are the best butler in the entire world and I'm gonna miss you!"

Kiku awkwardly hugged Alfred back. "I'm going to miss you too." A few seconds passed and when it was clear that Alfred wasn't going to let go soon he said, "Um…you can let me go now."

Alfred reluctantly let go of Kiku and took off his glasses to dry his eyes. Kiku went back to the trunk and pulled a video game out of his bag.

"Here this is a going away present for you." Alfred put his glasses back on and stared at the video game that was just handed to him.

"This is Ninjas vs. Pirates II!" Alfred stared at Kiku in utter amazement. "But how did you get this? It's not even going to come out for another 4 months!"

Kiku smiled. "I have a friend that helped to develop that game so he gave me a copy of it."

Alfred started laughing manically. "Now I can master this game and be able to finally beat your butt!"

Kiku smiled slyly. "We'll see about that."

Alfred put the game in one of his suitcases. He put two of the suitcases under his arms and started pulling the large one behind him. "See you later! Make sure my dad doesn't die of boredom while I'm gone."

"I'll take good care of him." Kiku watched him till he disappeared and then got into the car.

* * *

"I can finally get to my cabin! That line took forever," Alfred muttered after getting his cabin number from one of the camp counselors. He grabbed his suitcases and started running towards some of the cabins.

"Sir! Your cabin is the other way," the camp counselor yelled.

Alfred stopped and started running the other way. "I knew that. I was just testing you," he said.

One of the suitcases was starting to slip under his arm and when he tried to fix it he ran into someone. "Sorry," he said. He didn't even check if who he ran into was okay. He just kept running.

It wasn't long before he spotted his cabin. He ran up to and kicked open the door with his foot. "No need to worry any longer! The hero has come to save the day!"

The two people already in the cabin froze and stared at Alfred. One of them was tall with white hair and purple eyes. And despite the heat he was wearing a scarf. When Alfred barged in he was hugging a boy with green eyes and brown hair who looked slightly scared.

"Uh…am I interrupting something?" asked Alfred, eyes wide as he looked back and forth between the two boys.

"Nyet. He was just becoming one with me. Do you want to become one with me as well?" The tall boy with the scarf asked, his smile sickly sweet.

Alfred started edging along the wall to try to get away from him.

"It's not what you think. I swear," the brown-haired guy said.

While Alfred was distracted the guy with white hair appeared right next to him. "My name is Ivan. What is yours?"

Alfred jumped back. "My name is Alfred."

"My name is Toris," said the brown-haired guy.

"Why do you think that you're a hero?" asked Ivan. It took a few seconds for Alfred to react but then he remembered.

"You're going to think of me as your hero too when you see what I've got." He grabbed his huge suitcase and pulled out a TV, game consoles, and video games.

"That's great and all but we don't have a place to plug the TV in except the bathroom," said Toris timidly.

Alfred grinned. "I thought about that too." He went rummaging through his suitcase and pulled out a generator.

* * *

A blond haired teen with a one hair that was slightly curled, was standing in front of the camp counselor's desk. He had indigo eyes and was wearing glasses. He was waiting patiently for counselor to look up from his work and actually notice him. However the counselor kept on writing and ignored him.

"E-Excuse me," he said.

"Huh?" The counselor looked up and finally noticed him. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there."

"That's ok. I'm used to it."

"So what's your name?"

"My name is Matthew and my name is right there," said Matthew as he pointed at the counselor's list of names.

The counselor smiled with embarrassment. "Do you know where your cabin is?"

Matthew nodded and grabbed his bags. He started walking towards where his cabin should be according to the map when someone knocked him over. He heard the guy yell sorry as the person continued on his way.

Matthew got up and dusted himself off. "I really wish people would start paying attention to me," he mumbled.

He picked up his bags and started walking towards his cabin. He was glad it wasn't far away because he was a bit sore from falling down.

When he got to his cabin he opened the door and stood in the doorway. As usual his bunkmates didn't notice him, but he was content with observing his potential new friends.

One was tan with dreadlocks tied up in a ponytail. He was also smoking a cigar but Matthew tried to ignore that. The other guy looked quite interesting. He had white hair and red eyes which made him look a bit intimidating to Matthew.

The dreadlock guy looked up after a while and noticed Matthew standing in the doorway. "So you must be our other bunkmate. The name is Carlos." He put his arm around Matthew's shoulders. "Do you want a smoke?" he asked while offering his cigar to Mathew.

"N-No."

"Leave the guy alone. My name is Gilbert which is an awesome name for an awesome person like me," said the albino.

"My name is Matthew. It's nice to meet all of you."

"Well you are lucky to have such an awesome bunkmate as me. The other guy is okay too," said Gilbert.

Matthew put his bags on one of the beds and got out his stuffed polar bear. "You brought a stuffed animal?" asked Carlos.

"I had it since I was a little kid so I kind of feel lonely without him."

"That's ok I have stuffed bird," said Gilbert as he pulled out a stuffed baby chick. "Its name is Gilbird and he is the most awesome bird in the world. And that's because he is my bird."

"My polar bear's name is Kumajikio or something like that," said Matthew while mumbling at the end.

"You don't know the name of your own stuffed animal?" asked Carlos.

Matthew blushed and hid his face behind his polar bear. "I named him when I was a little kid so I can't remember what I named him."

Carlos smiled and punched Matthew's shoulder. "It doesn't matter. It seems like you're a nice guy."

Gilbert laughed. "Kesesese. That won't last long once you start hanging out with us."

Matthew smiled and laughed. Although his new friends were a bit weird he felt happy that some people were paying attention to him.

**Special thanks to Moongirl12121 for being my beta! This is a short chapter to so I can tell if I should finish this. Now please tell me honestly if you want me to continue this story. I'm a bit iffy about this story since it is based off a movie and sometimes fanfics like this feel like you are reading the script with just the names changed. And I don't want this one to end up like that because those can become dull sometimes. However if you like what I did so far let me know so I have motivation to write the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	2. The Big Fight

Matthew was finding a place for his hockey stick when the bell for lunch rang. "I wonder if they will serve beer..." Gilbert mused on the way to the lunch hall.

"Even if they did, they couldn't serve it to you. Remember we're in America, not Germany," said Matthew.

Instead of pouting Gilbert grinned. "I guess it's a good thing I brought a few cases in my suitcase."

Carlos gave him a high five. "Now that's what I'm talking about. We should have a party one night." Matthew sighed and wondered not for the first time that day what kind of cabin he had gotten into. He started walking behind Carlos and Gilbert as they planned their party and started looking at the scenery around him.

Although to him it wasn't as pretty as his home back in Canada, he still hoped he would have fun. After all it was only his first day and he already had two friends.

"Hey Matthew! You listening?" asked Carlos.

"Huh?"

"We were asking if you were into any sports. We were going to play something after lunch."

"I am pretty good at hockey. But my football skills aren't so bad since my Dad taught me how to play."

"Then it's settled! After lunch we'll play football. Me versus the rest of you guys since I'm so awesome at everything," said Gilbert. Gilbert started running towards the lunch hall. "Whoever gets to the lunch hall last has to carry everyone's trays!"

Carlos started running after Gilbert with Matthew trailing behind him.

* * *

Matthew had two trays in each hand and had a third balanced on the edges. He was moving very slowly so he wouldn't drop anything. "Can one of guys help me out?"

"You lost the race so you have to carry the trays. Next time you need to try and beat Carlos because you won't be able to beat me," said Gilbert.

"The only reason you beat me is because you had a head start," said Carlos.

"I'll beat you again then. Race you to the table!" Gilbert had already started running before he said that, but Carlos wasn't far behind him. Matthew chuckled as he watched his new friends argue over who got to the table first. Since Matthew was staring at the trays in his hands he didn't see the person running right towards him.

Alfred was running to get back to his table, because he was really hungry and wanted to eat now! As usual he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings so he slammed into Matthew.

When they bumped into each other, their trays went flying. Alfred was going fast enough that he completely knocked over Matthew and landed right beside him. The food from the trays rained down onto them and their surroundings.

"Watch where you're going next time!" Alfred yelled.

At hearing this Matthew got mad. This was the second time someone had run into him today. And this one wasn't his fault either. "You know what! Maybe you shouldn't run around with a tray full of food-eh?!" Matthew yelled back at the American.

Carlos and Toris saw the collision and went over to help their friend up. But Carlos accidentally helped Alfred and Toris helped Matthew.

"Are you okay Matthew?" Carlos asked a huffy Alfred.

"Dude my name is not Matthew," said Alfred.

Carlos got a surprised look on his face. He looked over to see Matthew thanking Toris for helping him up. He looked back at Alfred, then Matthew again. Alfred looked to see what Carlos was staring at. His eyes widened slightly and he gasped as he saw Matthew standing there.

As soon as he was done thanking Toris, Matthew continued his earlier rant. "Next time you run into someone you should apologize instead of-!" Matthew stopped talking mid-sentence when he saw Alfred. For a split second he almost thought he was looking in a mirror.

Toris started pulling on Alfred's arm in an attempt to stop the fighting. "Let's get you cleaned off," suggested Toris. Alfred walked away with Toris, and Carlos finally got over his shock and offered Matthew a napkin.

Back at his table Alfred was complaining about Matthew and eating at the same time. "I don't *munch* see what *slurp* the problem *chew* is with *gulp* that guy is! It's his *slurp* fault for not *munch* looking where he *gulp* is going!"

"Did you notice how he looked exactly like you?" asked Toris.

"It is a bit weird da? Maybe you two are related," said Ivan.

Alfred shook his head. "No way *munch* I could be *slurp* related to him. Didn't you *gulp* hear his accent! I'm American *chew* and he is Canadian! We can't *munch* be related!"

"Just because you're different nationalities doesn't mean you can't be related," Toris pointed out.

Alfred stopped eating because he ran out of food. He already ate Toris' food so he looked over to Ivan's tray. He tried to steal his roll but stopped when he saw the look Ivan gave him. "I'm going to get more food." Alfred stood up and started running to where they served food.

Toris looked at his tray and sighed. He didn't get to eat much because Alfred stole most of his food. Ivan offered his roll to Toris, and Toris looked at it suspiciously.

"What is it going to cost me?" Toris asked warily.

"Not much. You just have to become one with me."

"I think I'll pass."

Matthew was picking at his food while Gilbert and Carlos were discussing the incident with Alfred.

"This guy looked exactly like Matthew?" asked Gilbert.

"Si! I helped him up because I thought he was Matthew. They look exactly the same!"

"We're not exactly the same. He doesn't have a curl on the side of his head," said Matthew.

"I didn't know you could get that loud. I could hear you yell at him all the way over here," Gilbert grinned, clapping Matthew on the back.

"Yeah," mumbled Matthew, wincing and rubbing his shoulder.

"Are you alright? You're not eating anything," said Carlos.

Matthew pushed away his tray. "I just have a weird feeling that's all. Like something really big is going to happen soon."

"I bet it will involve me. Anything awesome that happens always involves me," said Gilbert.

* * *

The next day after breakfast Matthew was heading over to the skating rink. He was still a little mad about what happened yesterday. So he decided to play some hockey and maybe put everything that happened yesterday behind him.

When he got there a game was just about to start. The one team was in need of a defender so he decided to fill in the gap.

Alfred was taking a few practice shots at the goal before the next game started. He hadn't played in a while so he was a tad bit rusty. But since nobody wanted to play football he decided to play hockey for a bit.

The game was just about to start when someone from the other team said they didn't have a defender. They were thinking of how to play with one less person when a person skated in the rink.

"I'll do it."

Alfred looked over to see who it was and was shocked to see his look-a-like once more. Seeing him made him even more determined to win.

When Matthew saw Alfred he groaned a bit. He wanted to play to escape what happened yesterday. But he couldn't bail out now since the team depended on him. He went over to his spot and hoped nothing would happen again.

As soon as the puck was dropped Alfred went right after it and started skating towards the goal. He was just about to shoot when Matthew stole the puck from him and passed it to one of his teammates.

Alfred started skating towards the person that currently had the puck and took it from him. This time Alfred started going towards the goal from the opposite side hoping to deal with the other defender.

However he was disappointed when Matthew came towards him and stole the puck from him once again. At this point Alfred was starting to get angry. He intercepted the pass of the puck and started skating towards the goal once more. This time when Matthew came up to him to steal the puck he was prepared. He slammed him into the wall and shot at the goal.

Alfred cursed as the goalie blocked the shot. When he tried to skate after the puck Matthew stopped him by smashing into him. Alfred fell onto the ice while Matthew started skating away to go back to defending.

However he was stopped when Alfred slammed back into him. In just a few seconds they were throwing punches at each other with everyone else surrounding them and cheering them on.

It wasn't long before the counselor in charge pulled them apart. "Stop fighting this instant. We will not have fighting on this rink!"

"He started it," Alfred and Matthew yelled at the same time.

"It doesn't matter who started the fight. The both of you are banned from playing in this rink," said the counselor.

"That's not fair!" cried Matthew.

"People fight all the time in hockey," said Alfred, scowling.

"No more will be said on the matter. Take off your equipment and return to your cabins."

Not wanting to argue with the counselor they both got off the rink and started taking off their equipment.

When they both started walking towards their cabins they did at first in silence and a few feet from each other.

It wasn't long before Alfred said something. "This is your fault again. If you would have not slammed into me I would have left you alone."

"What the hell are you talking about!? You were the one that ran into me. And you hit me first. You made it get physical and I just followed your lead," Matthew replied.

"That's because you were in my way."

"I was not in your way! I was just doing my job as a defender. Was I just supposed to let you score a goal?"

"You slammed into me when I was going away from you. You could have just let me go."

"And let you get the puck again? I was just making sure my team mates would have a chance to score a goal before you went after it again."

"You should stick to playing your position then."

"I was playing my position! By making sure you didn't get the puck again you wouldn't have another chance to shoot at the goal."

Alfred and Matthew were glaring at each other and each was tempted to start throwing punches. However that didn't happen because they got to Alfred's cabin. Alfred walked over to his cabin, gave one last glare to Matthew, and slammed his cabin door.

Matthew continued the walk to his cabin, seething.

When Ivan and Toris came back to the cabin they found Alfred playing one of his most violent video games and swearing under his breath.

"What happened comrade? I thought you were going to play hockey," Ivan asked, mildly surprised to see the American so upset.

Alfred didn't even bother looking away from the TV to answer Ivan. "Well I was playing hockey but then that maple lover ruined it all for me. He bumped into me unnecessarily so we got into a fight. And because of that I'm banned from the rink."

Alfred started frantically pressing buttons and yelling at the TV. Toris was starting to get concerned if Alfred was sane when Ivan turned off the TV.

"What did you do that for?!" Alfred yelled at Ivan.

"The way to get even is not to sit here and play violent video games."

Alfred looked at Ivan suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"You should be thinking up a way to get revenge," Ivan said with a smile.

Alfred stared at Ivan for a few seconds before he got what he meant. "You're right!" Alfred dropped his controller and started scribbling on a notebook. "I'll get back at him. He'll regret getting me kicked out of hockey!"

* * *

Matthew returned to his cabin to find Gilbert and Carlos drinking beer. They stopped discussing how to sneak into the girl's camp when Matthew face planted on his bed.

"You want a beer? It looks like you could use one," said Gilbert. Contrary to what they were expecting Matthew nodded. Gilbert passed him a beer, and Matthew started drinking it.

"What happened to you? I thought you didn't drink," said Carlos.

Matthew sighed. "I got banned from the ice rink."

"What did you do?" asked Gilbert.

"I didn't do anything. It was that guy from yesterday that looks like me. We got into a fight so now neither of us can go back to the rink."

"I can beat him up for you if you want," offered Carlos. Matthew shook his head.

"No. I'm just going to let the whole thing blow over."

Matthew finished the beer he was drinking and threw the can. Gilbert got out another can of beer and handed it to Matthew. Matthew opened it up and started drinking it.

"Is this your first time drinking," asked Carlos.

"No. I've tasted my dad's wine before. I never had enough to get drunk though."

Gilbert started laughing. "I really want to see you get drunk." Matthew ignored him and continued drinking and sulking.

**Thanks to the response I got I shall be continuing this story! The next chapter will take more time because I have a job this summer. Anyways, thanks for reading and review please! **


	3. Revenge

It was a couple of days later at lunch when the announcement was made. There was going to be an obstacle race between any cabins that wanted to participate. The cabin that won would get pizza and pop.

Since the pop wasn't allowed at the camp this announcement got a lot of people excited. Especially Matthew's cabin. "If we win that race we could have our party," said Carlos.

"Why do we need the pop for a party? I thought that's what the beer was for," asked Matthew, slightly confused.

"Yes, but we finished it the night you got drunk," said Gilbert.

"Don't remind me..." Matthew groaned. The next morning after getting drunk he had a really bad hangover. On top of that Gilbert and Carlos were never going to let him forget what he did at all.

"If we try hard enough we should be able to win. All three of us are pretty athletic so it shouldn't be too hard," said Carlos.

"We should practice to increase our chance of winning," said Matthew.

"What's the point in practicing when you have the awesome me?" Gilbert chortled.

Alfred was walking past Matthew's table when he heard them talking about the obstacle race. He smirked as he walked away from their table. Now he had the perfect plan to get back at Matthew for getting him kicked out of hockey.

* * *

It was the night before the obstacle race and Alfred was putting his plan into place. He was where the obstacle course was going to take place with a jar of oil and a knife in his pocket. Each cabin had a location where they were going to start the race. Alfred found Matthew's cabin number and walked a few steps down the course.

He pulled the jar of oil out of his pocket. He took the lid off and poured the contents out in front of him. He went further down the obstacle course till he got to the rope swings. He climbed up the wooden beam to where the rope was attached.

He pulled out his pocket knife and slightly cut the rope that Matthew's cabin would have to use. He jumped off and started smiling.

"Try winning the race now."

* * *

It was the starting time for the obstacle race and Matthew was stretching with Gilbert and Carlos.

"Remember that if any one of us starts getting behind we have to stay with him," Matthew said. He was slightly worried that Gilbert and Carlos were going to run off and leave him behind.

"I will also remind everyone that we agreed that if anyone causes us to lose they will have to carry everyone's lunch trays for a month," said Gilbert while looking at Matthew.

Matthew glared back at Gilbert. "I won't slow us down. I'm faster than you think."

A counselor announced that it was almost time for the race to start. Everyone was lining up at their starting positions. Matthew was looking around and caught Alfred's eye. Alfred gave him a small smile which shocked Matthew. 'I guess he has gotten over what happened,' Matthew thought.

Matthew's attention went back to the obstacle race when a counselor started counting down.

"5…4…3…2…1…Go!" When the counselor said go everybody started running. After a few seconds of the race Matthew, Gilbert and Carlos slipped and fell. When they managed to get back up everyone else already had a head start.

They started running again and got to the hurdles. They managed to jump the hurdles smoothly and almost caught up everyone else. They then got to the swing rope. Gilbert went over first and was followed by Carlos. However when Matthew went to swing across the gap, the rope broke.

He landed in the mud pit below and Gilbert and Carlos had to help him out. By the time they helped him out, they were way behind everyone else. They tried their hardest to catch up but it was no use. They ended up finishing in last.

Matthew was bent over to catch his breath, when he saw Alfred out of the corner of his eye. Alfred was laughing while flaunting the trophy above his head. When he caught Matthew looking at him he smiled and waved at him.

Matthew narrowed his eyes as he put two and two together.

"That_ salaud!_" cursed Matthew.

"What are you talking about Matthew?" asked Gilbert.

"Alfred rigged our course so we would lose."

"What makes you think that?" asked Carlos.

"The fact that he is laughing his ass off right now and that our rope broke. The ropes they use here don't break so easily."

"We don't have any proof that he did it," said Carlos.

"We don't need any proof," said Matthew. "We're going to get even."

Gilbert laughed. "Sounds like an awesome plan to me! What did you have in mind?"

* * *

That night Matthew put his plan into action. Gilbert, Carlos, and Matthew were all carrying bags when they snuck up to Alfred's cabin. Gilbert looked in the window and said, "They're asleep."

Matthew opened up the door and tiptoed in the cabin and was followed by Carlos and Gilbert. The cabin was slightly messy with pizza and cans of pop in the middle of it.

"They don't deserve the pizza. We would have won it if they hadn't cheated," whispered Gilbert. Matthew took a can of silly string out of one of the bags he was carrying.

"It's time for payback," whispered Matthew.

Gilbert had a can of whipped cream and walked over to Ivan. Gilbert looked at Ivan for a few seconds before he lost his nerve. "I'm not messing with him. I bet he'll know and curse me or something."

"I'll do it pansy," whispered Carlos. He grabbed the can from Gilbert and was about to spray it on Ivan's face when Gilbert grabbed his arm.

"Don't get his scarf dirty. If that happens I'm pretty sure he'll kill all of us!"

Carlos rolled his eyes and started putting the whipping cream on his face. Matthew went over to Alfred with the silly string. 'This is for all the trouble that you cause me,' he thought.

Gilbert went over to Toris to put the honey on him. Once Matthew was done he pulled out the string and started setting up the booby traps while Carlos and Gilbert started filling a bucket up with milk.

It took them an hour to set up everything in the cabin. As they were leaving Gilbert went back into the cabin. He came back out with the pizza and pop in hand. "We deserve it after all," said Gilbert.

"Let's go back to the cabin to celebrate," said Carlos.

* * *

The next morning Gilbert, Carlos, and Matthew were hanging out around Alfred's cabin. They were eating pizza and drinking pop while waiting for everyone to wake up. Matthew stood up and peaked in the window. "They're starting to wake up!"

Gilbert and Carlos joined Matthew in watching the scene unfold in front of them. Alfred was the first one to wake up and at first didn't notice his surroundings. It was when he tried to sit up that he noticed he was covered in silly string from head to toe.

"What the hell?" He started ripping off the silly string and put on his glasses. The first thing he noticed was the string put everywhere. He then saw Ivan's face and clothes were covered in ready whip except his scarf which spotless.

"What is going on," asked Toris. Alfred looked over and saw that he was completely covered in honey.

"I have an idea who did this," mumbled Alfred. He got out of bed and stepped right into something sticky that he thought might have been pine sap. Ivan started mumbling kol kol from his bed as he took off his shirt to wipe off his face.

Toris just stayed in his bed and tried to pretend that everything was a bad dream. When Alfred got up he leaned into the string an unknowingly he set into motion a booby trap. When he looked up he saw water balloons falling towards the TV.

"Shit! Not the TV!" He started running over to the TV when he slipped on the sap covering the floor. He managed to get up in time to protect the TV with his body.

The water balloons were filled with a sticky substance that completely covered Alfred. He sighed with relief when he saw the TV was safe.

Outside the cabin Matthew, Gilbert, and Carlos were laughing. "What were in those balloons anyway?" asked Gilbert.

Matthew barely stopped laughing long enough to answer. "Maple syrup."

"Surprise room check." The boys looked up to see Mr. Rome, the main camp counselor, with some other camp counselors.

"We'll check this one first," said Mr. Rome as he started walking towards Alfred's cabin.

"Merde! The bucket full of milk is still on the door," said Matthew.

He started running towards Mr. Rome and said, "Mr. Rome! You shouldn't go in there!"

Matthew blocked the door in an attempt to stop Mr. Rome from entering. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Alfred ate too much pizza last night so he threw up everywhere so it's a big mess."

"If someone threw up then I should go in to make sure he's okay." Matthew tried to protest but it was no use. Mr. Rome walked in and the bucket full of milk crashed down on his head.

Matthew nervously laughed. "I tried to warn you."

Alfred glared at Matthew and pointed his finger at him. "It's his fault. He messed up our cabin on purpose!"

Matthew couldn't help but retort. "You rigged the obstacle race so we would lose!"

"That's because you got me kicked out of hockey!"

"That was your fault as well!"

Alfred and Matthew were ready to fight when Mr. Rome got in between them.

"Stop it the both of you."

"He started it!" Matthew and Alfred yelled at the same time.

"It doesn't matter who started it! Both of you are in big trouble."

Gilbert and Carlos, who were watching everything through the window, slowly retreated.

* * *

Matthew and Alfred were standing in the counselor's cabin. They were trying to stand as far away from each other as possible. They were also glaring at each other while waiting for the camp counselors to speak.

They knew how much trouble they were in when both Mr. Germania and Mr. Rome were there to talk to them. And the unhappy looks that they gave them was also a clue to how much trouble they were really in.

"We don't tolerate fighting at our camp. And from what we hear you two have been fighting quite a bit," said Mr. Rome.

"It was his fault," mumbled Matthew.

"Bullshit," Alfred mumbled back.

Mr. Germania glared at them showing that he heard them. "It's even worse when we have fighting between siblings," said Germania.

"He is not my brother," said Alfred.

"I could never be related to him," Matthew retorted.

"They're not brothers?" asked Mr. Germania with a confused look on his face.

"No. They're just look-a-likes," explained Mr. Rome.

Mr. Germania raised an eyebrow. "They look so similar you would think…"

Mr. Rome got up and stood in front of Matthew and Alfred. He looked at both of them in the face before continuing. "Obviously the both of you are in trouble. Taking away privileges apparently won't work for the two of you so we're going to try a different approach. You two will do everything together from now on. This includes meals, activities, and sharing a cabin."

"Hopefully the two of you can find a way to get along before you kill each other," Mr. Germania added.

Alfred and Matthew just stood there, too shocked for words. They realized then that there plans had backfired.

* * *

Alfred and Matthew were both sulking when they were dragging their stuff to the new cabin. The fact that they had to be in close proximity with their enemy wasn't making them any happier. It also didn't help that everybody in the camp was acting too damn cheerful when following them.

"Why the hell is our cabin so far away?" mumbled Alfred. Once again he was having issues carrying his bags and he was starting to get tired. He tried shifting his grasp on his bags, but that didn't help at all.

"This is your entire fault…again," hissed Matthew.

"You're accusing me? Last time I checked it was you trashing my cabin that got us into trouble in the first place," Alfred hissed back.

"That's because you rigged the race!"

"Revenge for getting me kicked out of hockey!"

Matthew and Alfred were glaring at each other so it took them a while for them to notice that Mr. Rome stopped.

"Go back to your activities," Mr. Rome yelled to the crowd following them. The camp members cheered and ran off to whatever they were doing beforehand.

Mr. Rome shifted his attention back to Alfred and Matthew. "This is your cabin from now till the end of camp. Try not to kill each other before dinner." And with that Mr. Rome walked away leaving them alone.

Alfred and Matthew dragged their stuff into the cabin and started unpacking. They did this without any more arguing or talking to each other. They had both decided that in order to survive the rest of summer they were just going to ignore each other.

**Salaud is French for bastard.** **Merde is French for shit. ****Not much else to say other than review please!**


	4. Getting to Know Each Other

Thus began Matthew and Alfred's isolation. During official camp activities they were to be together. The worst part for them is that their friends couldn't be with them. It was just the two of them whether they liked it or not.

In their own way they found a way to cope with having to be around each other most of the day. They simply decided to ignore each other. They wouldn't talk to each other or even look at each other. The camp counselors would try to get them to talk, but their efforts were all in vain.

As expected this made the camp days almost unbearable. The only think they looked forward to was the small amount of time they could spend together with their friends. And since they had kept everything bottled up inside them, the time they spent with their friends mostly consisted of them talking everyone else's ears off. Even quiet Matthew had a lot to say.

* * *

Matthew and his friends were hanging out near their usual spot at the lake. Carlos and Gilbert were skipping stones while Matthew was ranting in the background. Gilbert and Carlos was trying their very best to ignore him. There were only so many times they could hear about how much of a bastard Alfred was.

"He also has the nerve to play video games all night. I can barely get any sleep at night! He is such an IDIOT! I can stand it anymore," yelled Matthew.

Gilbert threw a stone that only skipped once. He cursed and blamed Matthew in his head. Even an awesome person like him can't concentrate with someone yelling. He turned towards Matthew and crossed his arms. "Then why don't you do something about it," asked Gilbert.

"If I do anything else I might get kicked out of camp. And I don't want to get in any real trouble," said Matthew.

"Afraid of your dad," Gilbert sneered.

"No. Our maid Elizabeta. She gets really scary when she's angry." Matthew got scared at the thought of what Elizabeta would do to him if he got kicked out of camp.

"Then how about I do something? I didn't get in trouble for trashing their cabin."

Matthew shook his head. "I don't want you getting in trouble."

Gilbert walked next to Matthew and hugged him. "You're so cute when you're being concerned!"

Matthew turned his head and blushed. "It's not like that! I just don't want to owe you anything."

Gilbert laughed and hugged Matthew harder. Carlos rolled his eyes and threw a stone that skipped 5 times. "I bet you can't beat that," said Carlos.

Gilbert let go of Matthew and picked up another stone. "Just watch!"

Matthew laughed as he watched his friends bicker at who was better at skipping stones.

While Matthew was at the lake, Alfred was on the other side of the camp at the woods with his friends. Earlier they had found an area that was secluded and hard to find so no one came to it.

This spot was perfect for their group because it allowed their group to escape from the rest of the camp. Ivan creeped out most of the camp, so he liked getting away from the stares. Toris was a little shy and was more comfortable when he wasn't around a big group. Alfred's reasons were a little different from the rest of the group. He was a social butterfly and usually loved hanging around people, but he had to control himself around other people. With just Ivan and Toris around he felt like he could be himself.

Alfred took this time to talk about anything and everything with Ivan and Toris. He wasn't used to not talking, so giving Matthew the silent treatment was having some side effects. He was talking so fast that they could barely understand him. But it was clear that he was avoiding the subject of Matthew.

It was Toris that changed the subject to Matthew. His intention was to try and make the situation between the two better. However his plan didn't work out like he planned.

"Why don't you try getting along with him," said Toris. Alfred stopped in the middle of his discussion why hamburgers was better than salads and turned to face Toris.

"Why the hell should I even try to get along with him?"

"So you two won't fight," Toris suggested nervously.

"He should just crush him so he never bugs him ever again," said Ivan.

Alfred nodded. "I agree with Ivan."

"Now that's scary. You're agreeing with Ivan," said Toris.

Alfred yelled, "I would never agree with that commie bastard!"

"But you just did," Toris retaliated.

Alfred curled up in a ball and got a dead panned expression on his face. "What is happening to me?"

"By the way I'm not a communist," said Ivan.

"That's what a communist would say!"

* * *

Since it was pouring outside Matthew and Alfred were in the cabin. If they had a choice they wouldn't have, but it was either awkward silence or getting wet. They were on their beds with Matthew was making a photo album while Alfred was on the phone with his dad. Matthew's concentration was interrupted when Alfred started yelling on the phone.

"Come on dad! Stop with these silly questions. Yes I'm eating fine and I haven't gotten any ticks. Can I hang up now? I'm not going to just play video games!"

Matthew kind of felt sorry for Alfred. He had many experiences like this with his papa and it wasn't fun. Before he knew it he had grabbed the phone out of his hand.

"This is Alfred's friend. I know you're worried about your son, but he's perfectly fine. We were going to play some hockey soon and I would be grateful if you would let Alfred go soon." He handed the phone back to Alfred and went back to his bed.

Alfred said bye and hung up the phone. He mumbled a thanks and Matthew mumbled a welcome back. Alfred watched Matthew put pictures in the photo book for a while before walking over to his bed.

"So what are you doing," asked Alfred.

"I'm putting pictures I've taken and putting them in this book. These are just the good ones I've taken recently." It was silent for a few more minutes. This was their first conversation without an argument, so neither of them knew what to say next.

Thinking about what Toris said, Alfred decided to keep going. "Can I look through it," he asked.

Matthew nodded and handed him the photo album. Alfred started flipping through it and stopped when he saw a picture of a hockey stick with a bunch of signatures on it. "Who autographed this hockey stick?"

"The entire Canadian Olympic Hockey team."

Alfred stared at it in amazement. "How did you get this?"

"My papa gave it to me for my birthday."

"When's your birthday," Alfred asked reflexively.

"July 2."

"We have the same birthday." Alfred continued looked at the picture next to it and saw a picture of a luxurious house. "This place is beautiful."

"It's our house near Ontario. Where do you live?" Matthew didn't know why he asked that question. It just seemed natural to him and it made him happy inside knowing that he was getting along better with Alfred.

"London. Who's in the photo?" Alfred pointed to someone with his back to the camera.

"That's my papa. If he knew I was taking the photo he would have turned around. He likes showing off what he calls his 'good looks'."

"What is your family like?"

"It's been just been me and papa for as long as I can remember. A couple of the servants that we have are like family so we're not completely alone." Matthew let his voice drop down. "Sometimes I feel like something is missing though."

Alfred laid down on the bed right next to Matthew. "I know what you mean. Growing up with a single dad can be tough. So what happened to your parents?"

Matthew paused before responding. His situation was weird and he didn't know how Alfred would respond. "I'm just with papa because my parents got divorced. But it gets a little more complicated, because Papa adopted me. With another guy."

Alfred sat up when he heard that. "You too?"

"What do you mean?"

"My dad also adopted me with another guy!"

"That is really strange."

Alfred lay back down on the bed and thought for a few seconds. "I wonder what he's like sometimes."

Matthew nodded. "I often wonder what made them split apart."

"Dad said something about fighting too much. He would often say how much better off he was without him. He always said that when he got drunk which is way too much in my opinion."

"My dad says the same thing. I don't believe him though."

"Why?"

"Every year my papa would disappear and hole himself up in his office. He would drink a bottle of wine and stare at a photo of my other dad. Sometimes I saw tears running down his face. Once I asked Elizabeta, our maid, if there were something special about that day since it was always the same day that he did this. She told me it was their anniversary."

"The same thing would happen to my dad. Him getting drunk is nothing unusual. Neither is crying since he tends to be a weepy drunk. It's what he would say when he stared at the photo that got my attention. He would repeat 'what did I do wrong' over and over. One year I got the nerve to ask him what was wrong and he said it was their anniversary."

After Alfred finished his story Matthew got his weird feeling again. The same feeling he got when he first bumped in Alfred. "Do you know what day this happened?"

"August 28. Why do you ask?"

"That's the same day," Matthew whispered.

"Same day of what?"

"August 28 is also my parents anniversary."

A loud bell rang symbolizing it was time for lunch. Alfred got off the bed and starting running out of the cabin. "Just in time! I was starting to get hungry."

Matthew followed him and grabbed his arm to stop him. "You're seriously thinking about eating at a time like this?"

Alfred just stared at Matthew. "What do you mean?"

'Can anyone be this clueless,' Matthew thought. "It's not weird to you at all? We have the same birthdays. We were both adopted by two guys that later split up. And our parents have the same anniversary."

"I know it's a crazy coincidence."

Matthew groaned and went back into the cabin. He started rummaging through his bags till he found what he was looking for. He took out a picture and held it to his chest, hiding what was on the photo.

He turned around to face Alfred. "Papa gave me a photo of my other dad. I kept on wondering what he looked like so he gave me this photo. It's ripped straight-"

"Down the middle," Alfred finished. He went into his own bags and pulled a photo out of his bag. "My dad gave me a photo too. I kept on bugging him so he gave me this to keep me quiet. We'll show them to each other on the count of three."

Matthew nodded and said they started counting together. "1…2…3." They revealed the photos at the same time and the photos fit perfectly together. The picture showed both of their dads on a boat holding hands and smiling.

"No way! That's my dad," Alfred said while pointing to the picture that Matthew was holding.

Matthew smiled as he saw Alfred was finally catching on. "And that's my papa," said Matthew, indicating the photo that Alfred held.

For a while Matthew and Alfred just stared at the picture.

"My dad looks so happy. He rarely looks like that anymore," whispered Alfred. They set the photos down on the table. Alfred ran out of the cabin and returned a few minutes later with some tape. Together they taped the pieces together making the photo whole once more. They then hung up the photo between their beds.

Matthew grabbed Alfred's shoulders and look at him straight in the face. "You do realize what this means right?"

Alfred nodded. "It means we are brothers."

"Not just brothers. We're twins!" Matthew and Alfred hugged each other. Matthew let him go and wiped away his tears.

"Why are you crying Matthew?"

"I'm happy. I always thought something was missing from my family. Now I know what and on top of that I found it."

* * *

Matthew and Alfred were eating popsicles while sitting on the dock. "I have a stupid idea," Alfred said.

"That's not a surprise. Most of your ideas are stupid. If you manage to think an idea at all that is," said Matthew.

Alfred jokingly punched Matthew on the shoulder. "It's not really stupid more like crazy."

"Well go on. Let's hear this brilliant idea of yours." Alfred took a bite of a popsicle and started talking, but was interrupted by Matthew. "Don't talk and eat at the same time. I can't understand what you're saying."

Alfred swallowed and stuck out is tongue at Matthew. "You want to meet dad, right?" Matthew nodded. "And I want to meet papa. So I thought that we could switch places."

"You're right. That idea is crazy and idiotic."

"Just listen! It could totally work. People confuse us all the time. With some work we should be able to trick our parents."

Matthew's eyes grew wide. "I have another crazy idea. Our parents will have to bring us back together eventually. When they figure out that we switched they will have to un-switch us."

It was then Alfred caught on to what Matthew was saying. "When they un-switch us they have to meet again!"

"And we could make them fall for each other again." Matthew sighed. "It sounds like a great plan, but can we really get them to fall in love with each other again?"

"I don't think we have to."

"What do you mean?"

"Dad never got remarried or had anybody special. How about papa?"

"Papa had a habit of bringing various men and women home. None of them were serious though."

"So that means they must still be in love with each other!"

Matthew smiled. "This plan could actually work!"

Alfred smiled back. "Then we're going to be busy. It's going to take a lot of work to become each other." Alfred got up and started running towards there cabin. Matthew got up and followed him.

The PruCan scene was a birthday present for Shiralala I hope you liked it ! July 2 is just a middle date between America's and Canada's birthdays. August 28 is just a random date that I picked for France and England to have their anniversary. I just popped up in my mind and a summer wedding seems to fit those two. As always please review and sorry for the long wait!


	5. The Switch

Alfred and Matthew didn't waste much time before they started on the process of trying to become each other. At first they thought it would be easy. People mixed them up all the time so how much more difficult could it be difficult to fool their parents? They quickly learned that it takes more than a few quick adjustments to be able to fully swap lives with someone else.

First of all, they couldn't make people suspicious at all that they had swapped. So any information that the other person might know had to be learned. Like what rooms were which inside the houses. Matthew had an easy job teaching Alfred since he even had pictures to go along with his demonstration. Alfred was a different story.

Matthew was absentmindedly eating his lunch while Alfred was furiously scribbling and erasing on a piece of paper. "Are you done?" Matthew asked. Alfred stopped drawing, scratched his head, and shrugged his shoulders. He handed the paper over to Matthew. Matthew took it and just stared at it blankly.

"It's a… turtle?" Alfred grabbed the paper and crumbled it up and threw it behind him at the ever growing paper pile. He got another piece of paper and started drawing it again before Matthew grabbed his hand to stop him. "Instead of trying to drawing it, why don't you just explain it to me through words?"

Alfred nodded and started trying to explain where the rooms in his house were located. Since he kept on getting distracted and Matthew found his explanations confusing it took until dinner for them to finish.

Because it took them so long on what they thought would be a short task, they where a tad bit depressed. "I just realized something," Matthew mumbled while they were eating dinner.

"And what's that?"

"You're going to have to learn French." Alfred dropped his fork and stared at Matthew.

"Why do I have to learn French?"

"I can speak it fluently and Papa speaks French as well. So he's going to expect you to at least understand what he's saying and sometimes respond in French."

Alfred thought about it for a few seconds while continuing to eat. "We're also going to have to start speaking in each-others accents. And you're going to have to be loud."

"What do you mean loud?"

"I mean you're going to have to speak up. You're so quiet and if you start talking like that around dad he's going to think you're sick."

"I can be loud if I want."

"Then be loud right now."

Matthew blushed. "It's too embarrassing."

Alfred sighed. He started wondering how he was going to fix that problem. The answer came to him when they were in the middle of learning about the immediate families and friends that they would have to know about.

"You can scream off a cliff!"

Matthew raised his eyebrow at Alfred. "The correct answer was my Grandpa. Are you even listening to me?"

Alfred shrugged. "Sort of. But I found out a way we can teach you to speak up! You can scream off a cliff!"

"What do you mean sort of?" Alfred grabbed Matthew's hand and started pulling him.

"No time to waste!" Matthew sighed and followed him. He figured that they weren't going to actually get anything done until Alfred did what he was thinking about.

When they actually got to the cliff Matthew was still clueless about what they were actually going to do. "Why am I screaming off a cliff again?"

"So you can get over your insecurities about being loud! Since we're on a cliff nobody will be able to tell it's you!"

Matthew fidgeted and wished he had his polar bear. Holding it always helped to give him confidence, but he had a feeling that wasn't going to help him speak up. "What should I say?"

Alfred shrugged his shoulders. "Say anything you feel like. Here I'll show you." He walked to the edge of the cliff and cupped his mouth with his hands. "I CHOSE YOU PIKACHUUU!"

Alfred's shout echoed throughout the lake creating a garbled mess of sound. Alfred turned his head and grinned at Matthew. Matthew slowly shuffled to where Alfred was and tried to think of something to shout that wouldn't make himself look stupid.

Not even bothering to cup his hands he yelled, "Hockey!" To Matthew he was yelling but in reality he came off as a normal person speaking.

"Louder," Alfred said. "We're going to keep doing this till I can hear an echo."

"Maple syrup," Matthew yelled a little bit louder but still not loud enough for Alfred.

'This isn't working out,' Alfred thought. He then remembered that Matthew got loud when he was angry at people, mostly him. "I don't think you got what it takes to be loud. We should just give up trying to switch places, because you obviously lack the skill to become me."

Matthew glared daggers at Alfred's grinning face. He took in a big breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "ALFRED IS AN IDIOT!"

Alfred hugged Matthew. "I knew you could do it! All you needed was a little encouragement."

Matthew smiled nervously. He never was this loud in his entire life. But in a way it felt good to be loud every once in while. Alfred let go of Matthew and said, "You should shout a bit more so we know you can be loud without being pissed at someone."

Matthew nodded and shouted, "I KNOW YOU WANT TO BE CANADIAN PLEASE!"

"I SCREAM FOR ICECREAM," Alfred shouted after Matthew's echoes died off. Matthew looked at him and Alfred shrugged. "I like shouting off cliffs."

After that they took turns shouting various things off the cliff until they got numerous people yelling at them to shut up. When they heard that they both started laughing. Once they stopped laughing Matthew said, "Now here comes the tricky part. Getting you to be quiet."

* * *

Matthew and Alfred were in the cabin as usual. Over the past week they spent most of their time in their cabin working to make their plan a reality. Currently they were working on perfecting their imitations of each-others voices. However they couldn't agree what each other sounded like.

"I like maple syrup-eh," said Alfred with an over the top Canadian accent. "How was that?"

Matthew whacked Alfred on the back of his head. "I do not sound like that!"

"Yes you do." Matthew rolled his eyes. "If you think you're so great let me hear your imitation."

Matthew straightened up and said, "Dude I'm hungry so give me some hamburgers."

"I do not talk like that," said Alfred.

"It looks like we're going to need help," said Matthew.

"From who?"

"Our friends."

Half an our later their friends were sitting in their cabin. Matthew and Alfred showed off their imitations and were now listening to feedback.

"You guys are trying too hard," Gilbert snorted, sitting back in his chair.

"What do you mean?" asked Alfred.

"You two already sound like each other. Since you got the pitches right you should just try a mild attempt at the accents," Ivan suggested.

Following their friends advice they attempted each-others voices. This time they didn't emphasize the accents as much. An hour later of practicing they were finally given their friends approval.

By the time they had finished it was time for dinner, so everybody headed towards the mess hall. It was on the way there that Matthew thought of another issue that they were going to have to solve. "We don't eat like each other," he said.

"So?"

"People aren't going to find it suspicious if I go home as you and eat only a little bit? I know my Papa will get a little concerned at least if you go home as me and eat like a pig." Matthew said, wrinkling his nose.

"Does that mean I can't eat hamburgers?!" Alfred asked, alarmed.

"And I'm going to have to eat them." Matthew shuddered thinking of the greasy food that he would have to consume now. They went into the mess hall and got what was for dinner for today. They got, and what they hoped was, meatloaf for dinner.

Matthew stared at what barely passed for food. He was really missing his papa's meals back home. On the other hand Alfred wasn't fazed and wolfed everything down. Matthew picked at his food a few minutes before handing it over to Alfred who gladly accepted it.

Out of curiosity Matthew asked, "Who cooks at your place?"

"Our butler Kiku. He's really good at cooking and he also makes the best sushi ever!"

"Dad doesn't cook?"

Alfred's eyes widened and he slowly shook his head. "If he doesn't step near a kitchen again in his life the world would be better off."

"That bad?"

"You have no idea. Once Kiku wasn't around for a week so we had to take care of meals ourselves. Dad thought he could cook for a week. He ended up almost burning the kitchen down. We got takeout for the rest of the week." Matthew laughed as a thought came up in his head. "What is it?" Alfred asked.

"Papa is very good at cooking and refuses to let anyone else cook in his kitchen. I can't help if wonder if that's a side effect from dad's cooking."

"Sometimes I would make fun of his cooking and he got this look on his face. Like he was remembering a bitter sweet moment."

Hearing that reminded Matthew of what his parents had once and lost. Just thinking about it made him sad. Trying to occupy his mind with something else he changed the topic. "Tell me more about Kiku."

Alfred was serious when he said, "He's a ninja." Matthew got a confused look on his face. "It's the only explanation. One second you think you're all alone and the next he's right there. And he always knows when I do something bad. Nothing escapes from him."

"Alright. How about something about his personality."

"Other than being a ninja he is awesome at video games, which I'm starting to think is a ninja skill." Matthew was imagining someone really scary and imposing till Alfred said, "But he's really nice as well. When I would get scared from watching horror movies he would always do something to take the fear away. He's also really forgiving. A while ago I did some really horrible things to him. But he forgave me completely. He's one of my best friends and I wouldn't know what to do without him."

"He sounds like a really nice guy." Alfred nodded.

"So what about the servants at your house? You mentioned an Antonio and Elizabeta earlier."

"Antonio is an old friend of papa. He's not really a servant but since he refused to live with us for free he takes care of the horses and some other things around the house. He's really carefree but when it comes to his friends or family he can be really tough. He's been a good friend to me. Elizabeta is our maid and honestly I don't think we could survive without her. Not only does she clean the house but she also takes care of all of us. She makes sure we get enough to eat, staying clean, and disciplining us if we do something wrong. I've been whacked in the head by her frying pan a few times, but I can't think of any situation that I didn't deserve it."

"We should all live together when we get dad and papa back together. We can be one big happy family."

Matthew nodded. "Yeah. I would like that."

* * *

"Comment allex-vous?" asked Matthew. He was once again trying to teach Alfred French and they were having issues. Everything Matthew taught him he seemed to forgotten overnight. It wasn't looking good for them considering Francis would definitely notice something was wrong if Alfred didn't know any French.

"I don't know. Something about food."

Matthew sighed and rubbed his temples. Trying to teach Alfred was giving him a headache. "No. I asked how you were."

Alfred groaned. "Do I really need to know French? Can't we just skip it and move on to the next part?"

"You got to know at least the basics. Just enough to be able to understand what he's saying so he doesn't think something is fishy." Alfred stayed silent and Matthew took that as a cue to continue. "We'll try it again. S'il vous plait."

"I have no clue."

"Do you even know what bonjour means?"

"Hello…I think."

'At least he knows that,' Matthew thought. He grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down a bunch of phrases with the translation beside them. After he finished writing he handed it over to Alfred. "At least be able to recognize these phrases. It's stuff papa says a lot so it's vital you learn what they mean. If you need to know what they sound like just ask me. And under no circumstances try and say anything in French. Your accent would give you away in a heartbeat."

Alfred took the paper and looked over it. "I'll try but don't expect any miracles." The look Matthew gave him told him that Matthew wasn't expecting one either.

* * *

It was the last week of camp and everybody was trying to have as much fun before they had to go home. Everybody but Matthew and Alfred. To them it was crunch time to perfect being each other to fool their parents and friends. Learning how to live someone else life wasn't easy. You had to learn how they walked, talked, what they wore, ate, and how they treated other people.

On top of that they had something else to worry about as well. Getting their parents to meet again was the easy part. Making them realize they still loved each other was going to be tricky. After a while they realized the stuffy cabin wasn't the best way to come up with ideas, so they went hiking. Now the issue wasn't coming up with ideas. It was finding one that would actually work.

"What if we trap them in a room and say we won't let them out till they realize their true feelings for each other," said Alfred.

"That's a brilliant idea! Let's trap our parents in a room so they can pretend to love each other, and then come out and murder us," Matthew said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Like your idea was any better," mumbled Alfred.

"It was plausible."

It was Alfred's turn to get sarcastic. "Telling two people they love each other so that they will fall in love is totally plausible."

Matthew was about to protest but he realized the faults in his plan. They both realized the faults in their plan. They were trying to force their parents to love each other, and love wasn't something that should be forced. They were resting on a log when a plan, that might actually work, came to Alfred.

"We need to make them remember the love they experienced for each other," said Alfred. "The problem is... how?"

"The picture," Matthew said so softly that Alfred barely caught it. Alfred motioned for him to elaborate. "In the picture they looked so happy and in love. If we recreate the scene they might remember those emotions and realize they still hold true."

Alfred pumped his fist in the air. "We have it now! The perfect plan to get them back together!"

"How is it perfect? We don't even know what they were doing in the photo."

"That's the easy part. Enough prodding and they would actually tell us." Alfred waited for Matthew to say something and when he didn't he continued talking. "This is the first plan that we came up that might actually work. And if it won't work we can always think of something else."

Matthew slowly nodded, still thinking it through. Alfred started doing a little dance, celebrating their new success. His happiness was cut short when Matthew asked, "How are you doing memorizing those phrases?"

Alfred stopped dancing kept his back to Matthew. "I'm getting there," he said.

"You haven't even started." Instead of answering Matthew's question, Alfred started walking and tried to change the subject. "How about we walk for another hour?"

Matthew grabbed his shirt and started pulling him the way they came. "You're going to spend all of your spare time learning those phrases." Alfred didn't even bother protesting, knowing that Matthew would get mad if he didn't learn the phrases. A mad Matthew was the last thing he wanted to experience again.

* * *

It was the last day of camp, and the whole camp was close to chaos. People were trying to do some last minute packing, saying goodbye to their friends, trying to convince their parents to keep a skunk, and leaving the camp for home.

Matthew and Alfred were just making sure everything was in place for their plan to succeed. While they were packing everything, Matthew was quizzing Alfred on the French he was supposed to learn. Matthew was relieved to know that he knew what everything was.

They had packed away everything away accept the photo of their parents that they had put together. They both stared at it wondering what to do with it. Their was no way they were going to split the picture again. The question was who the picture was going to be with.

Alfred took it down and handed it over to Matthew. "You take it."

"Are you sure?" Matthew asked.

Alfred nodded. "You won't have any of your pictures with you. So you should at least have this one." Matthew took it and almost put into his bag until he realized that he would be taking Alfred's home. "Just make sure nobody sees it. We don't want to bring them together too early."

With everything put away, they grabbed their bags. When Matthew picked up Alfred's bags he was thankful that he had built upper arm strength playing hockey. He wouldn't have been able to pick up Alfred's bags if it wasn't for that.

They both walked together down to where the cars would take them to the airport. On the way there they met their friends to say their final goodbyes.

"It was fun amigo," said Carlos.

"Take care of yourself," Gilbert said as he gave a quick hug to Matthew.

"Remember to keep in touch," said Matthew. After saying goodbye Gilbert and Carlos raced to where their parents were.

"You weren't that annoying," said Ivan.

"Oh thanks," mumbled Alfred.

"Thanks for being my friend," said Toris.

"Stand up for yourself so people stop pushing you around," Alfred said to Toris. "See you later," he said to both. Ivan and Toris then went their separate ways. Alfred and Matthew then continued walking together. When they got to their destination, they almost didn't want to go. Although they knew it was only temporary, they really didn't want to be split apart again. But at the same time they were excited to go and meet their other parent and put their plan into action.

"Good luck," said Alfred.

"You too," responded Matthew. They hugged each other goodbye and got into their separate cars that would take them to the airport.

* * *

When Matthew got off the plane, he was a little bit nauseous. He was really nervous about pulling off being Alfred. Also the hamburger he ate on the plane might have played another part of his nausea. Normally he wouldn't eat on a plane much less a hamburger, but he had to get used to eating them all the time.

Matthew hurried to retrieve his bags then go to where Kiku was supposed to pick him up. Looking outside to see if Kiku was already there he saw a limo parked in the pickup area. Looking in the drivers side he managed to see a person who he recognized from Alfred's description as Kiku.

When he went outside Kiku got outside of the car. He ran over to Kiku and remembered at the last second to give him a big hug.

"I see camp hasn't changed your behavior Alfred-san," said Kiku. Kiku gave him a small hug back, which according to Alfred was all they he should expect from him.

"I missed you too," said Matthew with satisfaction that he perfected Alfred's voice. Sensing Kiku was getting uncomfortable about the hug, he let go of him. Matthew was thinking of something Alfred would say, but Kiku beat him to it.

"Let's go home. Your dad is anxious to see you." Matthew put his bags in the back of the limo and got in. Knowing Alfred would talk during the whole trip that's what he did. He decided the safest subject to talk about would be the camp.

Although he would have preferred to look at the scenery around him quietly, he didn't want to raise suspicions this early. He got a break from talking when Kiku would talk about what was going on at the house during camp. He didn't learn much, but everything that he learned about Arthur excited him.

It wasn't long before they stopped in front of a beautiful house. It wasn't big since it was in London, but that didn't matter. Matthew wondered how they got such a house in London and realized he didn't know what Arthur did for a living.

He got out of the car and grabbed his bags out of the trunk and pushed open the gate to walk up the pathway to the house. The inside of the house didn't have decorations like his home did, but is seemed to suit the atmosphere.

Not seeing anybody he walked up the stairs and found Alfred's room. When he looked inside the room he wasn't surprised at what he saw. There were various combinations of posters including everything from sports to video games. He also noticed that despite the numerous amount of video games that Alfred took with him, that there was a bunch left.

Putting his bags down on the floor he went out the room to look for his dad. He had just gone down the stairs again, when he found him waiting for him. It took Matthew's breath away to see the person that he stared at in a photograph right in front of him. He noticed that even though the picture was taken a while ago, it didn't look like Arthur aged much.

Matthew immediately ran down the stairs to give Arthur a big hug. "Hello dad," he said for the first time.

Arthur returned his hug and said, "I'm glad to see you back."

Matthew stayed hugging Arthur without saying anything. He would have stayed hugging him for much longer if Arthur didn't ask, "Everything alright?"

Matthew let go of him and nodded. "I just missed you," he said.

"I missed you too," said Arthur. He turned to Kiku and said, "Get dinner ready." Facing back to Matthew he said. "For your homecoming dinner we're going to serve your favorite meal. But to make it more enjoyable for the rest of us we're going to have gourmet burgers."

"I don't care what kind of burgers they are as long as they are burgers," Matthew said. In his head he was wondering how you made burgers gourmet.

"Unpack your bags while we wait for dinner to be cooked," said Arthur. When Matthew got halfway up the stairs he added, "And put everything away as well!"

* * *

During the plane ride Alfred was going over the phrases that Matthew had written for him. He had them memorized last time Matthew quizzed him on them, but he wanted to go over them one more time before throwing the paper away.

The seatbelt light and the popping in his ears informed him that the plane was starting to land. Giving the paper one last look he crumbled it up and put it into his jacket. While waiting to get off the plane, Alfred started to nervously tap his fingers.

He didn't like sitting still and waiting for stuff to happen. When they were allowed to get off Alfred practically ran out of the plane almost knocking over a bunch of people.

Once he got off the plane he ran down to where his bags where. Since he had to wait again, he was impatiently tapping his foot. He was so focused on wishing the bags would come faster, that he almost missed his own bags. He grabbed them and started heading outside to the parking lot where Francis should be waiting for him.

Once he got outside the airport he saw him waiting next to his car. Alfred resisted everything to not go over to him right their and then and give him a huge crushing hug. But he knew that isn't what Matthew would do, so he managed to control himself.

When he was walking over to Francis he was more nervous then he had ever been in his entire life. He also couldn't help but keep staring at Francis. Although he saw various pictures of him, seeing his papa in person was a total different story. When Francis noticed Alfred walking over, he smiled and started walking towards him. Not caring if it was un-Matthew behavior Alfred ran to close the gap between them and gave him a hug which Francis returned.

"How was camp mon cher?" asked Francis.

Alfred was filled with satisfaction when he knew what Francis said. With that he had more confidence that the plan would work.

"It was good," said Alfred.

"It looks like camp didn't make you any louder."

Alfred almost sighed with relief when he saw that Francis thought he sounded like Matthew. Alfred smiled slightly and continued to hug Francis.

"You must have really missed me. You usually don't hug me for this long."

Alfred let go when he was close to un-Matthew behavior. "It's felt like an eternity since I last saw you."

Francis smiled and patted Matthew on the head. "I missed you too." Francis grabbed Alfred's bags and put them in the trunk of his car. "Let's go home so you can get rested."

Alfred nodded when in fact he didn't feel like resting at all. On the ride to the house Francis did most of the talking while Alfred only said a few comments about camp. He would have preferred to talk some more, but he didn't dare. Trying to be Matthew felt like walking on a carton of eggs.

When they pulled up at the house Alfred felt like Matthew's picture didn't do it justice. When he saw the stable and the horses, Alfred got even more excited. He always pretended to be a cowboy when he was a kid. So seeing horses that he could ride any time that he wanted made him ecstatic.

When he got out of the car he saw a woman running toward him that he recognized from Matthew's photos to be Elizabeta. She ran up to him and gave him a big hug. "I'm so glad you came back in one piece! When you stopped calling us the past few weeks I was worried that something bad had happened."

Alfred felt a bit guilty. Because Matthew and him were so busy they had forgotten to call their parents.

"Leave him alone Elizabeta. Matthew was probably just having so much fun that calling us escaped his mind," said Francis. All of a sudden Elizabeta let go of him leaving Alfred wondering why. His question was soon answered when he was almost tackled to the ground.

"You're finally home amigo," said Antonio. Alfred would have responded, but Antonio wasn't letting him breath. Luckily he only started turning blue for a couple of seconds before Elizabeta made Antonio let go. When Antonio saw what he did he started apologizing right away. "I'm sorry! I just missed you so much I couldn't help, but give you a big hug."

Alfred was concentrating on taking big breaths and managed to wheeze out that he was okay. He heard a bark and turned to see Maple coming towards him. When Matthew first told him that was the name of his dog, he laughed at him. Seeing the dog in person, the name started making more sense. The dog's fur had a small resemblance to maple syrup.

"Hey Maple," said Alfred. Instead of the dog greeting him, it continued barking at him.

"Stop it Maple! That's your owner," said Elizabeta. When the dog wouldn't stop barking she continued scowling at the dog. "That's odd. It's like Maple doesn't know who you are."

'Oh shit,' thought Alfred. "Maybe I just smell different because of camp," suggested Alfred.

Elizabeta looked like she was going to say something about it, but changed her mind. "Lets get your bags in your room," she said. Alfred grabbed his bags and followed her. He hoped the dog incident would quickly be forgotten.

Up in Matthew's room Elizabeta helped him unpack. While he was unpacking he noticed Francis walking in the gardens with a lady. "Who's that?" he asked.

Elizabeta moved to where he was to see who he was talking about. "Oh." She moved away from the window and continued unpacking. "That's Vicky."

"Is she the new one?" asked Alfred, thinking about what Matthew said about Francis bring home people all the time.

"She isn't that new anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"She's been around for a while now." Alfred sat down on the bed while processing the new information. He was starting to get a little worried. "And she's half his age! I was hoping he would get rid of her soon in favor of a good looking man, but it doesn't look like that will happen soon."

Elizabeta continued talking about other things, but Alfred wasn't listening anymore. He was now even more worried about Vicky. He didn't have much time to worry though because Francis came into his room.

"When you're down backing go to the living room. I have someone I want you to meet."

"Okay Papa," said Alfred while hoping his worry show in his voice.

After Francis left Elizabeta said, "Go now. I'll finish up here."

"Thanks," mumbled Alfred. He bit his lip as he left the room, worry gnawing at his stomach. When looked into the living room he saw her with her legs crossed and looking like she owned the place. Seeing her like that made him angry. She had short blond hair, and with her makeup and dress that showed off her legs and arms she looked very young.

When he walked into the living room she looked up and gave him a smile. "Hello Matthew. My name is Vicky. It's nice to meet you."

Alfred smiled and said sweetly, "It's nice to meet you too. So how long have you been here?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"The people Papa brings don't usually stay that long. So I was wondering how much longer you would be around here." Vicky glared at Alfred for a few seconds before she regained her composure. At that moment Francis walked in the living room.

"Are you two getting along?" asked Francis.

"We sure are," said Alfred. He got up and said, "I'm going to go ask Elizabeta to make pancakes for dinner today." He left now wanting to see what would happen next.

Right after dinner Alfred called Matthew. They had decided in order to keep in touch that they should call each other each night. Alfred was getting more nervous at each ring of the phone. He started to think that Matthew decided to go to bed instead of staying up for the phone call when Matthew answered the phone.

"Everything is working over here," said Matthew. "I was able to convince them without them suspecting anything."

"I had a small issue with Maple, but other than that, nobody seemed to suspect anything." Alfred paused, debating whether to tell Matthew about Vicky. "We might have a small problem though. There's this women called Vicky that Papa seems pretty attached to."

"It's nothing to worry about. I told you brings people people home all the time."

"But it's more serious this time," protested Alfred. "According to Elizabeta she's been around for a while. On top of that he even introduced me to her!"

Matthew continued to put it down as nothing. "She'll be gone soon." Matthew yawned. "I should go. I have to get up early tomorrow. Remember to ask about the photo."

"Bye," said Alfred then hung up the phone. Although Matthew said Vicky shouldn't be worried about, he had a feeling that things were going to get worse.

**This chapter is twice as long so you can consider it as a gift for the last chapter being so late. If you're wondering why Vicky isn't a Hetalia character, it's because I hate her. Since I like all Hetalia characters nobody in my mind is like Vicky. So Vicky will stay as Vicky. Please review!**


	6. Boat Ride

Matthew woke up in an unfamiliar bed and room. At first he was confused where he was remembered where he was. Despite just waking up, he was really excited. He had finally met Dad! After all these years his dream of meeting him was a reality. And he was going to try to do everything to make sure he stayed with Dad as long as possible.

He climbed out of bed and shuffled out of his room. Walking down the hallway towards the stairs, the smell of breakfast cooking reached him. When he was able to tell what they were having for dinner he was tempted to laugh out loud with delight.

Breakfast was going to be pancakes and bacon, his favorite breakfast. This time his enthusiasm about eating wasn't going to have to be faked. When he walked into the kitchen the scene of Arthur reading a newspaper while drinking tea greeted him. He stopped for a moment and let the scene in front of him sink in.

'He looks so peaceful,' thought Matthew. Arthur noticed him standing in the doorway and gave him on of his rare smiles. "I see you got up just in time for breakfast Alfred, as usual. Sit down while everything is cooking. It shouldn't take that long."

Matthew sat down and had his happiness brought down a notch when he realized that the smile Arthur had wasn't for him. For a split second he thought that the smile was meant for him. But in reality it was for Alfred. He wondered what Arthur's reaction's would be when he found out he was deceiving him. Would he be mad at him or happy to meet his son that he hadn't seen for such a long time?

It didn't take long before Kiku came out of the kitchen with plates of bacon and pancakes. He started filling up his plate and started looking for the maple syrup. Not seeing it he asked, "Where's the maple syrup?"

"Here," said Arthur as he passed him the syrup. He grabbed it thinking it was maple syrup. He poured it on his pancakes and took a bite of them and noticed they had a strange taste. He believed it wasn't Kiku's fault for the strange taste so he looked at the bottle of syrup. When he read the label he saw that instead of saying maple syrup it said syrup.

He inwardly sighed. He was hoping that he would have been getting maple syrup instead of just syrup. At the camp he had just plain syrup and discovered it wasn't nearly as good as maple syrup. So he continued eating and wondered if there was a way to bring up getting maple syrup at the house without being suspicious.

"Any interesting stories about camp," asked Arthur. Matthew had just taken a bite of food and was going to finish eating before answering when he remembered what Alfred would do.

"I went canoeing," Matthew said with a mouthful of food.

Arthur sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to talk when you're eating."

Matthew swallowed and grinned. "Every time."

Arthur snorted. "It feels like it."

Matthew kept on telling stories about camp while eating and didn't talk with his mouthful because Alfred seemed to stop once he's told to. He continued to eat even after he was full. He had a feeling he was going to get fat after all the eating he had to do. Once he felt like he ate the amount of food that Alfred would eat he went upstairs to get changed.

When he got into Alfred's room he opened up the suitcase to pick out what to wear. Usually he would have been finished packing, but since Alfred had massive amount of stuff he had only gotten the TV and video games unpacked. After he picked out he was going to wear he decided to unpack the rest of his clothes.

After a few minute of unpacking Kiku came in. "Do you need help Alfred-san?" Matthew nodded since it would take him a while to unpack everything alone. A few minutes later Kiku took out Matthew's stuffed bear, Kumajiro. "When did you get a polar bear Alfred-san?"

Matthew froze. He had forgotten that taking Kumajiro with him might give him away. Thinking frantically, he tried to come up with some excuse for having a new stuffed animal with him. "I got him in a trade," said Matthew.

"A trade?"

"Yeah. I met this guy at camp and we decided to meet up later. So in order to keep our promises we traded something important to us. I traded Tony while he gave me a polar bear called Kumajiro."

"So when is this friend coming?"

Matthew paused a bit to give him time to come up with another white lie. "We don't know when yet. We're going to stay with our families for a while before meeting up."

After Matthew and Kiku finished unpacking Kiku left to complete his other butler duties. Right before he left he said, "Later we need to play Ninjas vs. Pirates II. Don't think you can beat me so easily just because you had more time to play it than me."

"I'm gonna beat your butt this time," he said as the door was closing. He was glad Alfred thought ahead for once. He was given a crash course on how to play video games and his skills weren't so bad. He just hoped he would be good enough to fool Kiku. Though Matthew was also thanking his luck that he had hung up the picture in his closet yesterday. Their was no way he was going to be able to explain how the picture was whole once again.

He opened up the closet to look at it and give him luck for what he was going to try to do next. "I'll make everything right soon," he whispered. Determination to make both Arthur and Francis smile like they did again swept through him. It was enough to give him courage to put his plan into action.

When he closed the closet door he heard Arthur's voice from next door. Matthew decided that it was now or never. If he didn't try putting his plan into action right now it was never going to happen. When he went over to Arthur's room he noticed that he was on the phone talking to someone. Not wanting to interrupt him, he stood outside the doorway and waited for him to finish.

"Did you call him and email him? Did you see if he was even at his house? I see." Arthur looked at his watch then continued talking. "I can be over at his house in half an hour. It's no problem at all. I'm not that very far away from his house and I have other errand to run any way. Now make sure everybody else turns in their manuscript." Arthur hung up the phone and shook his head slightly.

Since Arthur was going to leave soon Matthew decided he might as well ask him now. "Hey Dad," he said while knocking slightly on the door.

Arthur looked over and said, "What is it Alfred?"

"I was wondering if we could hang out today. Since I haven't seen you for a while I wanted to spend some time with you."

Arthur smiled. "Sure. But first I have to run some errands for work. We can hang out after I'm done."

"I can come with you. I wouldn't mind."

"It's going to take a while and I don't want to hear you complaining."

"I won't complain I promise."

"Ok. I'll meet you downstairs then."

Matthew nodded and ran down the hall towards the steps. While waiting for Arthur to show up he realized he still had no idea what Arthur did for a living. He never thought of asking Alfred, but he guessed it had to do something about writing since he mentioned manuscripts on the phone.

It seemed like time slowly crawled to Matthew while waiting for Arthur. He was so excited to be finally spending a day with his Dad. It was one of the things that he couldn't wait to do during camp. So when Arthur finally came downstairs Matthew was practically bouncing, an action that he never did.

Arthur noticed his excitement and said, "I don't know why you're so excited. It's just some silly errands." Arthur walked outside to the car and Matthew followed closely behind him. They got into the car and Arthur pulled out the car and started driving what felt like the wrong side of the road to him. He knew that's how it was in Britain but he still felt like they were going to get into a crash.

"What sort of errands do you have to do," asked Matthew. He was still curious to what Arthur did for a living and decided the easiest way to find out would be to ask random questions about his job till he was able to figure out what he did.

"First off one of our writers is late turning in his manuscript so we have to go to his house. Normally I wouldn't do this, but he isn't answering our phone calls or emails. On top of that, he is one of our top authors so it is really important that we get his next manuscript. Then I have some new authors that recently became part of the company. So I like talking to them so I can familiarize myself with the authors easier."

'So he must be some sort of an editor,' thought Matthew. He decided to ask one more question to try and wriggle out what Arthur's exact job was. If he couldn't find out now he would just ask Alfred later when they called each other. "Do you like your job?"

"I do. I would have rather wanted to be a writer, but raising a child when you just start off writing books isn't easy. So I decided to be at least close to the writing process. And being the head editor in a big company does have it's perks."

'So that's why he can afford a butler,' thought Matthew. "You can always became a writer when you have enough money to support yourself for a while."

"I could." Arthur parked the car in front of a house and unbuckled his seat belt. "Stay in here while I get the manuscript. I'll leave the radio on so you can listen to music." Matthew nodded and watched Arthur go into the house.

He turned on the radio and heard Uprising by Muse coming through the speakers. Since he like the song he kept it on and silently sang along with the song. After a few more songs played on the radio Arthur came out of the house with a package in his hand. Arthur got into the car and Matthew turned down the radio.

"How did it go," asked Matthew.

"I got the manuscript thats what counts." Arthur turned on the car and pulled out into the road. "When I got in there the guy was asleep so his wife answered the door. Apparently he worked all night on finishing the manuscript so he was asleep when we tried contacting him."

"Where we going next?"

"The company. I made appointments to meet with the authors a while go since that would be easier. Their is only two new authors to meet so it shouldn't take long."

The trip to the company mostly consisted of Matthew saying pointless and random things about the world, something that Alfred seemed to do a lot. Matthew didn't really pay attention to Alfred talk like that but he often wondered how he came with things to talk about. He found out that it was quite easy. You just picked a random subject, talked about it until you thought of something else, and repeat. Matthew found it a lot easier then trying to think of interesting camp stories to talk about.

When they got to the corporation Alfred told him to come with since it might take a while depending on how much each author wanted to talk. When they got into the building Matthew followed Arthur closely. It was a big building and they were talking a lot of twists and turns to get to Arthur's office so he didn't want to get lost.

"Why don't you get something to eat while you wait. The kitchen is that way," Arthur said while pointing to the right.

Deciding that Alfred behavior would be to get food no matter what time of day it was, he followed Arthur's finger and hoped he would be able to find the kitchen without any problem. Luckily for him, the path to the kitchen was pretty straight forward. When he got there he saw that there were doughnuts laying on the counter.

Matthew grabbed a couple of glazed doughnuts that didn't seem stale and walked back to Arthur's office. When he got there he saw that he was talking with a small girl that looked like she was very timid and shy. He sat down on a chair and started eating his doughnuts. Before he was even finished with the first doughnut the girl was done and came out of Arthur's office.

Matthew was relieved when he saw how fast talking with the first author went. He settled down into his chair and hoped the next author would be just as quick. The next author came down to the office and seemed to be the exact opposite of the girl that came before her.

When she got into the office and started talking her voice was so loud that Matthew could hear her. Matthew thought she couldn't be any more annoying till she laughed. It was so loud and fake sounding that it just grinding on Matthew's nerves. Looking into the office he saw her clearly trying to flirt with Arthur. However Arthur wasn't falling for her tricks and cut the meeting short.

After the very annoying girl left Matthew went into Arthur's office. "So how are the new authors," Matthew asked even though he pretty much knew the answer.

"The first girl that came through is probably going to be one of our top authors soon." Arthur rubbed his temples before continuing. "But that last girl is probably not going to be an author for very long. The first book will be a flop and then we'll drop her."

"You already read their books?"

"No. That would take too much time if I read every one of our books. I can just tell what a good writer is like usually from meeting them. It's a little skill that I picked up after having this job for so long."

"So why did you hire the last girl?"

"I didn't. One of our editors must have fallen to her 'charms' and let her publish her first book. I would actually read it and debate whether it should be printed but unfortunalty it's too late for that." Arthur got out of his work mind and turned his attention to Matthew. "So what do you want to do today?"

Matthew was able to answer the question easily because he had thought about it all day. "I want to go on a boat ride."

"What kind of boat?"

Matthew thought back about the picture of Arthur and Francis together and tried to describe. "The ones that have a cabin on it and have a motor on it."

"You're talking about a cabin cruiser."

"Yeah. So where can we ride one of them?"

Arthur looked to the side. "Actually...I own one of them."

'I wonder if its the same one.' "Awesome! Then we don't have to rent a boat!"

Arthur hesitated and it looked like to Matthew that he might say no. So he gave him his biggest puppy dog eyes in hope that might sway Arthur to say yes. Arthur looked at Matthew and buckled under pressure.

"Fine. But it will probably not be as interesting as you think."

"We won't know until we try."

"We should get something to eat then. What would you like to eat?"

"How about McDonalds," said Matthew despite that being the last place he wanted to eat.

They exited the building and got into the car and went to McDonalds. "Do you want your usual," asked Arthur. Matthew nodded despite not knowing what the 'usual' was. Arthur ordered a chicken wrap for himself with a medium drink. For Matthew he ordered two big macs, a large fries and a large drink.

When Matthew got his meal he wondered how he was going to eat everything since he wasn't hungry. He decided to start on the big macs and work down from there. Since Arthur didn't want to eat and drive they parked in the parking lot. Once Arthur was done he started driving again. However Matthew still had a big mac and fries to eat.

Since Matthew was focusing on eating the car was silent and when Matthew looked at Arthur he could tell that he was lost in the past. Matthew then realized that the boat was of importance. It was a reminder of the relationship that Arthur and Francis once had together. The fact that Arthur had kept the boat gave Matthew hope. It meant that Arthur still treasured what he had with Francis. And it might make it easier for them to get back together again.

The silence was making Matthew feeling uncomfortable so he decided to talk between trying his very best to finish his food. "So when did you get a boat? We could have gone on boat rides before."

Arthur snapped out of his day dream and glanced at Matthew. "I've had the boat for a while. I had it when I was...still together with Francis. I never thought you would be interesting going sailing so I never mentioned it to you."

That's what Arthur said, but Matthew knew different. He had a feeling Arthur didn't tell him before because he didn't want to think about it. The memory of Francis was probably still a tad bit painful for Arthur to think about.

That or the boat was something that he held sacred. The boat belonged to just Francis and Arthur and he wanted it to stay like that forever without the contamination of other memories. Perhaps he wanted to be able to think about the boat and just think of Francis.

Whatever the reason was, apparently Arthur decided it longer held true for the time being. Not knowing what to say next, Matthew decided to stay silent for the rest of the ride and try to finish his food. He had just finished off his fries when they reached their destination.

Matthew was surprised to see that they were at the docks. He expected them to have to go to some warehouse to get the boat, not for it to be already out and ready to go. Arthur parked the car and said, "The boat is docked not too far away from here."

"It's already out and ready to sail?"

Arthur looked a little embarrassed and said, "When you were at camp I decided to go sailing again."

Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "That will make it easier for us to go sailing then."

They both got out of the car and started walking. Matthew tried to stay close to Arthur but ending up looking around at all the boats around him. He hadn't seen so many different kinds of boats so it was fascinating for him to look at everything.

They didn't have to walk far for them to get to the boat. When Matthew saw it he was able to recognize it as the boat in the picture. Arthur started untying the rope that attached it to the dock. "Get on while I get everything ready," said Arthur.

Matthew got on the boat and decided to explore the boat while waiting. Wondering what the cabin was like, he decided to look inside. When he got inside he was disappointed. It wasn't because the cabin didn't look nice. It was actually very elegant. He was just hoping that there would be something that would help him learn about Francis and Arthur.

He didn't know what he was expecting. A bunch of pictures lying around with Francis and Arthur in them when they were a couple. Perhaps a wedding album or two lying about. Thinking there must be something he started looking in drawers, but was still coming up empty.

"What are you doing?" Matthew jumped as he was still looking through drawers.

"I was looking for something to eat," saying the first thing that popped up in his head.

"You just ate."

"I was looking for something to eat as a snack later."

"I don't have any food on board so you'll just have to wait."

Matthew nodded and was glad that as Alfred, using food as an excuse was instantly believed. Arthur went up to the helm and started turning the boat on. Matthew tried to follow what Arthur was doing, but it was too confusing so he just stopped watching him.

Instead he went out on the deck and watched the shrinking dock and the waves. When he told Arthur that he wanted to go sailing, he didn't say that just so he could warm up Arthur for questions. But it was also because something about the sea just fascinated him.

After a while the boat stopped and Arthur joined him. "It's a nice day to go sailing," said Arthur.

Matthew agreed with him as a breeze blowed in his face. "I've been meaning to ask you about my other dad."

"When are you going to stop asking questions about him."

Matthew shrugged. "Probably till I meet him. After all you only told me what he looks like."

Arthur turned back to the water and gathered his thoughts. "Well...to start off he was French. He was the usual self loving French man. Thought his cooking was better than everybody else's, said his culture was better than British, claimed he was better than love then everyone else."

"You make him sound narcissistic."

Arthur snorted. "He was that too."

"What did you like about him?" Matthew knew that there was good points to Francis. But he was highly curious what Arthur thought about him, other than the bad things. Hell, he might even learn something knew about his father.

"The good parts? That might take a while to think about it." Despite saying that, he started speaking right away. "He was always spreading his love around to everyone. He honestly tried his hardest to brighten up people's day. Although he could be lazy sometimes once he had a goal in his mind he wouldn't stop till it got accomplished. His cooking wasn't too bad as well but I would never tell him that. If his ego was inflated anymore his head might burst. He was also always there for me when I needed. Francis was someone I could count on."

"What happened," Matthew whispered.

Arthur sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair. "We argued too much. The two of us always argued since I met him, but it started getting worse. So I just left and never came back."

"Neither of you tried to fix it?"

"No. He probably moved on by now. He's a big flirt so I would be surprised if he hadn't found somebody else by now."

'He hasn't though. A part of him is still waiting for you,' Matthew thought. "Do you know where Francis is?"

"He's in Canada at the moment. I have his address but I don't remember it.

"Where did you meet?"

"College. He was a sophomore and I was a freshman."

Sensing that the topic of Francis was getting uncomfortable for Arthur, Matthew decided to change the subject. "So why don't you have any food onboard?"

Arthur chuckled. "It always comes back to food for you." So they spent the next two hours on subjects ranging from sports to music. After discussing why drinking tea was necessary for the soul Arthur checked his watch and said it was time for them to be getting back.

Arthur started the boat back up again and steered them back to the harbor. Matthew just laid down on the deck and absorbed the new information that he gained. He had also learned more about the personality of Arthur himself. He had only a couple of days with him so far, but he felt like he had learned so much.

When Arthur got the boat tied back up again his cell phone rang.

When he answered it Kiku asked, "Did you and Alfred-san get anything for dinner yet?"

"No. I'll see Alfred what he wants to eat." Arthur covered the speaker and asked, "Kiku is wondering what you want to eat for dinner. Also hamburgers are out of the question."

Matthew thought of something that Alfred would want to eat, but something that he would also enjoy eating. "How about mac and cheese?"

"Alfred wants mac and cheese."

"So am I just supposed to make a big bowl of mac and cheese and nothing else?"

"I'm sure you can think of something that goes along with mac and cheese."

"I will think of something. Goodbye Arthur-san."

"Bye." Arthur hung up the phone and turned to Matthew. "It looks like dinner will be something involving mac and cheese. Or just plain mac and cheese. It all depends in what kind of mood Kiku is in at the moment."

They both then went in the car and started the drive home. Matthew turned on the radio mostly because he didn't feel like talking. He had no idea he could get tired from talking so much. Then again it wasn't until he started acting like Alfred that he had to talk so much in the first place.

Matthew was so tired out that he managed to fall asleep on the ride back. He woke up to Arthur shaking his shoulder and telling them they were home. Matthew opened up his eyes and stretched. He felt refreshed after his short nap. They both got out of the car and walked up the path to the house. When they opened the door they were greeted by the site of Kiku.

"Okaerinasai. Food is on the dinner table," said Kiku.

Matthew went into the dining room and saw that dinner wasn't just mac and cheese. It also had pork and some vegetables that Matthew was probably not going to eat. Matthew tried to wolf down the food but was finding it hard to continuously eat stuff like it was the last meal he was going to eat for a week.

After dinner was going to run upstairs and wait for Alfred's call when Kiku stopped him. "Why don't we play Ninjas vs. Pirates II since I'm done working for now."

Matthew nodded and tried to look excited as he continued to Alfred's room, which is where all video game playing took place. In truth he was scared. No matter how hard he tried he wasn't able to get the skill that Alfred had of video game playing. It wasn't like he was terrible or anything like that. Just not as good as Alfred and Matthew was worried that Kiku would be able to tell and figure everything out.

When he was in room he started pacing and went over everything that he had learned playing Ninjas vs. Pirates II. He even played it the night before to make sure he hadn't forgotten how to play the game. If anything was on his side is the fact that Kiku never saw Alfred play the game before so that might help him out.

When Kiku came into his room they started playing. Of course Kiku was the ninjas while Matthew played as the pirates. After playing for only half an hour Matthew was starting to feel utter defeat. No matter what he did he couldn't even somewhat get close to beating Kiku. So he just focused on not getting his beat too much for the next hour and a half that they played.

After the end of the two hours of playing Matthew finally understand what it was like to be defeated without a doubt. And why Alfred was so intent on mastering the game during the summer.

"I have to go Alfred-san. Maybe the next time we play you'll have gained more skill."

"Yeah," mumbled Matthew.

Kiku got up and walked out of the room and started making sure everything was in order for the next day. But he couldn't get it out of his head how strange Alfred was when they played together. It wasn't unusual for Alfred to lose against him, but it was like he wasn't even trying to win. No matter how hopeless the struggle was Alfred always tried to win against him.

But instead it was almost like he was concerned about making his loses not as big. Now that he thought about it Alfred was acting weird ever since he had gotten back from camp. During dinner today it had taken him twice as long to finish eating. It was almost like he was a different person. 'Maybe camp changed him or perhaps he is ill,' he thought. Whatever it was Kiku was going to pay more attention to Alfred the next few days.

**Okaerinasai is what you say in Japan when someone returns home with the nasai being added on the end to make it more formal. This is another long chapter which apparently is becoming a trend with me. Hopefully thats a good thing. Since college started expect erratic posting of chapters. I'll write whenever I get time which changes from day to day. Please review!**


	7. Suspicions

Alfred woke up when something very heavy and big landed on his chest. He struggled against the unknown weight until his face started getting licked. "Maple?" Alfred received a bark as a response. Opening up his eyes, he saw Maple staring at him.

After dinner last night he played with Maple hoping that would get the dog to like him. Evidently it worked. "What do you want. Food?" At the word food Maple wagged his tail and barked.

"I'll get you food. Now get off of me!" After a bit of flailing around and yelling, Maple finally got off of him. Alfred put on his glasses and was closely followed by Maple as he went downstairs to get breakfast. When he got in the kitchen, he saw Francis cooking.

Alfred stared at Francis, trying lock this moment in his memory. He was trying to make up for all the years that he hadn't seen him by making as many memories as possible. There was no way he could get back the years, but he could at least try to make the time he had with now memorable.

Alfred was pulled back to reality when Maple nuzzled him again. 'Alright! I'll get you food,' thought Alfred. He started looking for the dog food when Francis noticed that he was there.

"You're up early."

"Maple's hungry," mumbled Alfred. He opened two different cupboard before he found the one with the dog food. He grabbed the dog bowl and put in what looked like enough food and gave it to Maple who happily started eating. Since he was still tired he decided to take a nap while Francis was cooking.

In a few more minutes he heard a plate being placed in front of him. He picked up his head and saw crepes. He never had a crepe before but according to Matthew they were good. Thinking about it Alfred realized he never had French food, at least with Dad.

Alfred said thanks and started eating his breakfast. He tried not to eat too fast but realized after he finished eating he was still hungry. Knowing Matthew wouldn't eat any more he decided he would just try and sneak food later.

He was about to go back upstairs and take a small nap before putting on his clothes when Francis started talking. "I was thinking that today we would go to the park to walk Maple today. Then afterwards we could have a picnic."

"Sure," Alfred said sleepily. Walking a dog sounded interesting and anything that involved food was a bonus for him.

"We'll be leaving in an hour," said Francis. Alfred only groaned in response. Francis ruffled Alfred's hair and smiled at the groan he got in response. "Réveille-toi," said Francis.

'Crap! He's speaking in French.' Alfred panicked while thinking of something to say in response that wouldn't sound weird no matter what Francis really said. Luckily Francis wasn't expecting an answer, so Alfred decided to retreat to Matthew's bedroom. He was highly tempted to take a nap. But he wouldn't be able to wake up in time, so he decided to get ready instead.

After he got ready he decided to see if Francis was still in the kitchen. Peeking in the kitchen door, Alfred saw that the coast was clear. He looked around for something that wouldn't require cooking and found a pack of chips. Alfred took the prize and went back to his room. After 3/4 of the bag was gone, he was finally full. He put the bag under his bed to save for later and wondered what he would do for the remaining time.

Normally he would just play video games till it was time to got, but that wasn't an option. Matthew had some video games, but he was sadly lacking in choices. All the video games that Matthew owned, Alfred had beaten at least twice already.

Alfred was stopped from wondering what to do, when Elizabeta came in his room. She checked the hallway to see if anybody was near and then closed the door. "You're going to the park today," she asked.

Alfred nodded wondering what she was getting at. Elizabeta bit her lip and checked out the door once more. "There's something you should know."

"What is it?"

Elizabeta started wringing her hands. "I know he's going to tell you soon and it's not my place to tell you. But you should at least be warned. After all it shocked me and I thought nothing could surprise me any more."

Alfred started getting scared at what she might say. "Well tell me already. Did somebody die?"

Elizabeta smiled a little. "No it's not like that. It's just that..." Elizabeta was interrupted by Francis.

"It's time to go Matthew," yelled Francis from the bottom of the stairs.

Elizabeta opened up the door and stood aside so Matthew could walk out. "You don't want to keep him waiting." Feeling like she should say something else she added, "Just don't get mad at your father too much. He has his own reason for doing everything even though they don't make sense to us."

Alfred nodded and walked out of the room. As he walked outside he wondered what Elizabeta was going to tell him. She made it seem like it was serious, but she still didn't tell him.

Francis was holding a picnic basket and a dog leash. "Can you catch Maple for me? I still need to pack everything in the car."

Matthew nodded and grabbed the leash that Francis was holding out too him. "Where did he go," asked Alfred. Francis pointed in a direction and Matthew followed his finger. He started calling for Maple while trying not to be too loud. He found it slightly awkward to be 'yelling' but really be barely audible. Matthew kept on complaining about being forgotten, but if he spoke up once in a while people might actually notice him.

Thankfully he didn't have to do his weird yelling for long because Maple actually heard him and came to him. Alfred clipped on the leash and said, "No wonder he likes you so much. You actually hear him."

He went back to the car and opened up the front door to go in, when Maple sat in his seat. He pulled on the leash in an attempt to get the dog out of the car, but he wouldn't budge. "Come on Maple! Move!"

Francis saw this and started laughing. Alfred sighed in defeat. "I'll just sit in the back."

"Now come on Maple. Get out of the seat so Matthew can sit in it," said Francis. Maple listened to Francis and got out of front of the car to sit in the back. Alfred tensed. He was waiting for the whole speech about how weird it was that his dog wasn't listening to him. But instead of saying anything, Francis just got in the drivers side.

'Maybe that happens often,' Alfred thought. So he got in the passengers seat and decided if Francis didn't think it was weird he wasn't going to say anything about it. He wasn't going to draw unnecessary attention to how different he was from Matthew.

Alfred yawned and wished that he would have been able to take a nap before leaving. As his eye lids got heavy he decided that he might as well get some sleep now that he had the chance.

The parking of the car jolted Alfred awake. Opening his eyes he saw that they were at their destination. Getting out of the car, he stretched his legs and looked at the scenery behind. It was different from what he thought of when the word park came up in his mind. Since he lived in London, a park was a place in the center of a bunch of buildings with a few trees and maybe a pond if you're lucky.

Instead of being surrounded by buildings, this park was surrounded by a forest. In place of a pond there was a lake. 'This is a whole let better than the crummy parks back at home.' A bark from the car reminded him why they were there in the first place. He opened up the door to let Maple out of the car and grabbed hold of the leash so the dog wouldn't run off.

Francis locked the car and stood beside Alfred. "Let's go walk for a bit before we head eat." Alfred nodded and followed Francis down a path towards the lake. Before he had been wondering how it was like to walk a dog. He soon found out with a dog the size of Maple it was more like the dog was walking you.

At first he tried to get the dog to go where he wanted to, but that dog was extremely stubborn! Eventually he gave and just let Maple go where he wanted to and just made sure he didn't go too far off. Anyways he had something that he needed to do. Alfred was just about to talk when Francis beat him to it.

"There is something I need to talk to you about," said Francis. Alfred remembered the conversation he had early with Elizabeta and decided that he should talk first. If what Francis had to say was really as bad as Elizabeta was hinting it would be better if he got the information that he wanted first.

"I have something that I want to talk to you about as well Papa."

"Alright you go first."

Alfred chose his next words very carefully. He wanted to make the subject seem casual, but not so casual that he wouldn't get any information out of Francis. "I've been wondering what my other dad was like."

Francis raised his eyebrow. "It's been a while since you asked about him. why are you asking questions all of a sudden?"

"At camp people talked about their parents and that got me wondering about mine. I realized I don't know much about my other dad so I decided that I would like to know more." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't necessarily the truth either. Alfred already had to lie so much to Francis, he just didn't want to have to lie to him anymore than he really had to.

Francis sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Where do I start?"

"Tell me what he was like." That was his plan. Get him warmed up with the simple questions then when he starts talking ask him about what he really wanted to know.

"If I had to pick one word that would describe him it would be British." Alfred rolled his eyes. "I guess you want more than a description than that, but describing him as British is very accurate. He drinks a bunch of tea, is very picky about his literature, he'll support his football teams to the death despite them not being any good, and he also believes in the supernatural. He always seems to have a frown on his face and no matter what time of day he is always grumpy." Francis was silent for a few seconds before continuing.

"When you get to know them he was a softer side to him. Sometimes you can't tell with all the yelling that he does. Even though he doesn't like to, he has his own ways to tell you that he cares. He also changed throughout the years I've known him. When I first met him he was a punk. But now he calls himself a gentleman."

"When did you propose to him?"

Francis closed his eyes and smiled. "I had the ring for a couple of months before I proposed to him. It took me so long to ask him, because I was afraid. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of the my life with him, but I wasn't sure he wanted to. So when we were going out on a boat ride I finally found the courage to ask him. We were watching the sunset and he said something how beautiful it was. Then I told him he was much more beautiful. I got down on my knee and asked if he marry me. When he said yes I felt like the happiest person on earth."

Alfred was afraid to ask the next question, but he had to. "What happened?'

Francis opened his eyes and the sadness in his eyes broke Alfred's heart. "We got into a really big argument one day and Arthur left."

They both walked in silence as Maple barked at birds that were unfortunate to be in his range. Alfred didn't feel like reminding Francis that he had something that he wanted to talk to him about. Right now he wasn't in the mood to hear about anything else that was depressing.

Eventually they turned around and started walking back towards the car. On the way back they talked about trivial things. Well, to Alfred it felt more like Francis was talking about trivial things. He didn't contribute much to the conversation despite wanting to talk. He also wasn't used to one sided conversations happening without him doing the talking. It sucked because Alfred had so much that he wanted to talk about, but being Matthew he couldn't.'Maybe I'll talk Matthew's ear off later as revenge for him being such a quiet person,' Alfred thought.

When they got near the car, he saw that there were people there. Getting closer he recognized one of them as Vicky. The other person standing next to Vicky was an older lady that had a resemblance to her. Alfred got a little ticked off. He thought that this picnic would just be him and Francis. But now it was going to be tainted by the presence of Vicky.

Vicky waved at them and Francis waved back while Alfred was trying to smile. "Is that him," the other lady asked Vicky.

"Yes."

"You made him seem like a demon. He's only a small boy."

"Trust me. He's a little brat. As soon as I'm in charge I'm sending that boy to military school."

"Tolerate him for a little longer. Just think of that wonderful house and all that money you'll have."

When Francis and Alfred got to the car the older lady said, "Well isn't he a sweetie. You never told us Matthew was such a cute boy Francis."Alfred gave a small smile which was all he could manage in front of Vicky.

"This is Vicky's mother, Edna."

"Call me aunt Edna. Help me get the picnic basket of the car," said Edna.

Alfred forced another smile on his face as he followed Edna. He was getting the same vibe off of Edna as he had from Vicky. Although he had just met the lady he already didn't like her.

Francis went over to Vicky and kissed her on the cheek. "Did you tell him," Vicky whispered.

"I started to, but..."

"Francis! If you won't tell him I will."

"Just let me do it my own way. I'll tell him soon."

Vicky was going to say more, but Alfred and Edna came back with the picnic basket. Alfred noticed how Francis's arm was around Vicky, and wanted to break the two of them apart right there and then. Instead he tried to ignore it and set up the picnic.

Vicky, Edna and Francis were talking, but Alfred didn't pay attention to what they were saying. Nobody expected him to talk so he didn't bother even listen to the conversations. Instead he focused on his hatred for Vicky. Every time he saw how close she was to Francis he wanted to yell that he wasn't hers. That he still belonged to his Dad and she needed to leave now!

But he behaved himself. He just ate his food, made sure Maple didn't eat everything, and tried to think about anything besides Vicky. When the picnic was over he almost jumped for joy. Of course he acted all nice when he said goodbye to Edna and Vicky. He just hoped he would get the rest of the day with Francis.

They packed up everything and this time Maple got in the back seat of the car without a fuss. When Francis started driving Alfred remembered that Francis had something awful to tell him. And when parents had something to talk to you about they liked choosing the car a lot. Probably because you can't run away. Alfred was considering pretending he was asleep again when Francis's phone rang.

'Please be an extremely long phone call that will last the entire trip.' It seemed lady luck was on his side that day. Not only did the phone call last most of the ride home, but there was an emergency at the winery. "Sorry," said Francis. "I was planning on going horse riding with you today, but something came up at work."

"It's ok. We can hang out more tomorrow." Now he wouldn't have to avoid the subject of what ever Francis wanted to talk to him about for the rest of the day. Although sometimes it better to know depressing stuff right away, Alfred really didn't want to hear it today. Maybe tomorrow he would be in a better mood.

Francis dropped him off and drove off to the winery. Alfred was walking towards the house when he was ambushed by Elizabeta and Antonio.

"Where is your father going," asked Elizabeta.

"To the winery. Something came up and he had to go."

"What do you think about V-," said Antonio before Elizabeta covered his mouth with her hand to keep him from talking.

"Did he talk to you about...something important today."

"Um...no." Was this about what Elizabeta was trying to warn him about earlier?

Elizabeta and Antonio exchanged glances, like they were unsure of what to say next. "Do you know if he's going to get home for dinner," said Elizabeta.

Alfred shrugged his shoulders. When they didn't say anything else, Alfred decided to get to the bottom of the matter. "So what were you going to say earlier before I left Elizabeta?"

"I-It's nothing," said Elizabeta. Antonio mumbled something about Elizabeta being worried he was going to say something. Elizabeta glared at Antonio and he stopped talking.

Alfred waited for a few seconds and when it was clear that nothing else was going to be said he walked inside the house. His first stop was the kitchen to grab something else to eat. He only ate about a third of what he would normally eat for lunch, so he needed something to eat. He grabbed another bag of chips and went up to his room. He quickly finished up the first bag, and started the second.

While he was eating he wondered what to do. Normally he would just play video games until dinner, but he had a feeling he needed to act more Matthew like. He knew that Matthew worked on his photo albums a lot, but he didn't want to mess them up. Since there was no ice rink around hockey was out of the question. Then Alfred remembered that Matthew liked spending a lot of time staring at the scenery around him.

Matthew had told him that he liked sitting out on a bench and drink tea while staring at things like mountains and such. Thinking it couldn't be too bad, Alfred decided to try and do the same thing. So he went down to the kitchen to make some tea.

He found himself glad that Arthur had taught him to make tea. He hadn't made it often, only when Arthur was sick. But he prided himself in the fact that he had enough skill to brew some tea that Arthur would drink. After he was done making the tea he walked out the back door of the house.

Seeing a bench that was shaded by a tree, he decided to sit on that. He drank a few sips of tea and tried to relax. It wasn't long before he started sudden urge to run around like nut came over him. Arthur always claimed he acted like he had ADHD and now he can see why.

Alfred drained the rest of his tea, swore when he almost burned his tongue, and walked back inside. He had given up on trying to act like Matthew and was going to play video games. However his planned was ruined when Elizabeta's voice made him halt.

"Matthew! You left two empty bags of chips laying in your room," said Elizabeta. Alfred turned around and saw Elizabeta glaring at him, with her arms crossed and a frying pan in her hand. "You just got home, and you already made a mess!"

Alfred opened his mouth and closed it again. Nothing he said was going to make Elizabeta less mad at him.

She pointed her frying pan at him and said, "You are going to go upstairs and clean up your room. After that come back downstairs to receive the rest of your punishment." Alfred nodded and ran up the stairs. He grabbed the two chip bags, which he left on the bed, and threw them away in the garbage can. Although he dreaded what the rest of his punishment would be, he knew it would be less wise to keep Elizabeta waiting when she was mad.

He rushed down the steps and found her in the place she last was. Hearing him approach, she turned around to face him. "Here clean the bathroom." Elizabeta handed him the cleaning supplies and dragged him to the bathroom that he would be cleaning. "I want this bathroom to be cleaned before dinner. So if you plan on eating soon, you're going to want to finish quickly."

She didn't need to threaten the withdrawal of food to make Alfred motivated on cleaning the bathroom. With the urge to get the bathroom cleaned as quickly as possible, it only took 30 minutes to clean it. When he exited the bathroom, Elizabeta was waiting for him. She checked the bathroom to make sure it was actually clean. Since it passed her inspection she patted Alfred on the head.

"You got your chores done for the day. Dinner is on the table so why don't you eat it." Alfred was baffled.

"Chores? I thought this was punishment?"

Elizabeta laughed. "Why would I make you clean the bathroom for punishment? You were so quick on cleaning up your mess I decided you got the point and didn't need any punishment."

Alfred shrugged his shoulders and went to the kitchen to get dinner. When he got in there, Antonio was putting everything on the table. When Antonio noticed him he smiled and waved.

"It looks like you got down with chores today just in time for dinner. Since Francis isn't here I made gambas al ajillo." Antonio served Alfred some and sat down.

When Alfred noticed that he wasn't eating he asked, "You're not going to eat?"

Antonio shook his head. "In spain we eat dinner at 9. I tried eating early, but it just messed me up. I'll just eat dinner later."

Alfred nodded and continued to eat while Antonio continued to talk. Soon he was done with his plate and when Antonio noticed that his plate was empty, he gave Alfred more food. Alfred didn't say anything and continued to eat. He wished he could talk back, but Matthew would only say the bare minimum when talking.

After he finished his second helping, he had to decline a third even though he was still wanted to eat more. Later that night he would have to sneak downstairs to get more food once more.

Seeing that it was almost time for him to call Matthew, he told Antonio that he had to do something and left the kitchen. He went into the room and grabbed Matthew's phone. It was still unfamiliar to him, so it took a while before he was able to unlock it and call Matthew.

As the phone rung, Alfred thought he had better pick up soon. He had some good news to tell him...and some bad. Matthew picked up and said, "Sorry. I fell asleep." He yawned and continued talking. "Who should say what they found out first."

"You should," said Alfred. He wanted to tell his potential bad news after everything good was talked about.

"I learned about the boat. You won't believe this, but Dad still has it! We even went on a boat ride together today and everything. I even learned where they first met. It was in college and I got Dad to talk about what he liked about Papa. I think he is still in love with him. What did you learn about."

"I learned about when Papa proposed to Dad. Apparently it was on the boat that you're talking about."

"I wonder if that is what happened before the picture was taken!"

"Maybe." Alfred paused before continuing. "We have a problem though. I think that Papa is serious about Vicky."

Matthew just brushed him off. "I keep telling you, he is never serious about any of the people he brings home. In a week or two she'll be gone. Trust me."

"But he introduced me to her mom! Has that every happened to you?"

"No...but I'm still sure it's nothing."

Alfred dreaded the words that he was going to say next. But the situation was starting to get bad and they needed to be said. "I think we have to put the plan in action soon."

"No! I just met Dad and I'm not going to stop being with him any sooner. If you're that worried about her, break them up." Matthew hung up the phone leaving Alfred with only silence.

Alfred put his head in his hands and started rubbing his forehead. He knew that something was up with Vicky and Papa. But Matthew just wouldn't believe him. Then he heard the sound of a car pulling up in the drive way. 'That must be Papa.'

He sat up on the bed and tried to get the conversation with Matthew out of his head. Alfred went downstairs and found Francis in the kitchen, eating what was left of what Antonio had cooked. Elizabeta was in there, chatting to him while cleaning up the kitchen.

Francis saw Alfred walk in the kitchen and said. "Bonsoir. Désolé je ne pouvais pas passer plus de temps avec vous."

Alfred panicked. He had memorized the words on the sheet that Matthew had given to him, but he didn't recognize most of the words that Francis said. Since he didn't even know what Francis said, he just nodded and sat down.

"How was work," said Alfred. He hoped this would turn the question to English. Elizabeta stopped cleaning and looked at Alfred. After a few seconds of looking at him, she went back to cleaning.

"Luckily it didn't take long to fix the problem. After work I'll go riding with you."

"Sure." Alfred yawned. He hadn't been eating as much so he didn't have as much energy as usual.

"Go to bed. You're tired," said Francis.

Alfred yawned again and decided that would be a good idea. Or at least pretending he was sleeping. Later he was going to get a snack that would hopefully fill him up. He got up and said, "Night."

"Bonne nuit."

Alfred changed into pj's and took one of Matthew's photo albums of the shelves. He was going to need something to keep him awake until he could grab something to eat.

After an hour, Alfred decided that nobody would be in the kitchen. Elizabeta had just cleaned it and Antonio didn't eat dinner until later. He tiptoed down the stairs and tried to be as quiet as he could be. When he got into the kitchen door, he opened up the fridge and looked for something that he could take upstairs with him. Seeing a box of pizza, he grabbed it and put a few slices of pizza on a plate.

He put the box back in the fridge and closed the door, which revealed Elizabeta. "How are you still hungry?"

"Uhhhh." Alfred tried to think of an excuse that would work. "I had a small lunch and while I was trying to get to sleep my belly kept rumbling, so I decided to get something to eat."

Elizabeta shrugged her shoulders. "As long as I don't find that plate on your bed tomorrow you can eat in you room."

"Goodnight." Alfred retreated from the room while trying to make it not that obvious he was escaping.

Elizabeta started walking back to her room and thought about how different Matthew had been acting since he had gotten back. First there was the incident with Maple, he started eating a bunch of food, and he hadn't spoken a word of French yet. It was almost like he was a different person.

'What if...no that's impossible,' she thought. She decided to ask Antonio and Francis tomorrow if they thought Matthew was acting weird. After all it could be just be all in her head.

**French:**

**Réveille-toi means wake up.**

**Bonsoir, désolé je ne pouvais pas passer plus de temps avec vous means hello, I'm sorry I couldn't spend more time with you.**

**Bonne nuit means goodnight.**

**If I am wrong with any of these translations I am sorry. If you notice if anything is wrong, please let me know.**

**Gambas al ajillo is a spanish dinner of shrimp with garlic.**

**To the person that reviewed as a guest and left another message that said the previous review was by them, you still appeared as an guest. PM or leave another review so I know who you are so I can respond to your review. Nothing else to say but please review!**


	8. The Truth

When Alfred woke up the next morning, he still felt exhausted. Looking at the time he saw that it was 10 p.m. He wondered why he was still tired, until he saw a piece of paper on the drawer next to him. After Matthew hung up on him last night, he had written up a list of things to apologize to him for when he called him again.

It wasn't surprising that Matthew had gotten mad at him last night after he suggested that they switch places so soon. If the situations were reversed, he probably would have reacted the same way. When Alfred realized that, he thought that Matthew probably put up with a lot from him. So he decided that if he was going to apologize he might as well apologize for everything. Alfred looked over the list and added and _all the things I do that annoys you and I don't know about_.

The temptation to fall back asleep was so strong that he almost did. The problem with that is he 'went to bed' early last night. Staying in bed any longer might cause suspicion, and his ideas for lies were starting to run dry.

Alfred dragged himself out of bed and walked downstairs to get some food. When he got in the kitchen, nobody was in it. He saw on the table there was a plate of food with a sticky note that said:

_Sorry but I had to go to work a bit early. As soon as I get back we'll ride together. Heat this in the microwave and do what chores Elizabeta asks you to do._

_Love,_

_Francis_

Alfred smiled at the note and set it aside. The plate had a couple of waffles on it that Alfred didn't bother reheating. He quickly finished off the plate and, as usual, was still hungry. This time he decided it would be unwise to get more food at the moment. He didn't have an excuse to come up with that would please Elizabeta why he was eating more again.

When walking back to his room, he met Elizabeta. "Can you bring down some dirty clothes from your room," she asked.

Alfred nodded and Elizabeta handed him a basket. Alfred carried it upstairs to his bedroom. Alfred changed into clothes for the day and put his pjs in the basket. He grabbed clothes out of his hamper and but them in the basket as well. He noticed his jacket hanging on the closet door knob and remembered that he had accidentally spilled some pop on it during the plane ride.

Deciding that it should be cleaned as well, he put it with the rest of the dirty clothes. He carried it back downstairs and gave the basket to Elizabeta.

"Thank you."

Alfred tried to say your welcome, but he yawned in the middle of it so it came out as a garbled mess.

Elizabeta laughed at him. "Get some coffee if you're still tired. There is still some left from when Francis made it this morning."

Alfred followed her advice and went into the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee. Elizabeta took the basket down into the laundry room so she could sort it. She grabbed the jacket that was on top and searched in the pockets. Noticing that something was in one of the pockets she emptied it out.

In her hand she held the crumpled paper that Matthew had given Alfred to learn French with. Normally she wouldn't have given it a second thought, but curiosity got the best of her and she was still suspicious of Matthew. She smoothed the paper out and saw that it had various french sayings with the english translations. She recognized the handwriting as Matthew's and when she looked at the bottom of the paper it said _memorize these phrases that Papa says frequently and under NO circumstances speak Frenc_h.

Elizabeta starting to think of the implications that this note could mean. But the idea seemed so crazy to her, that she didn't want to accept it. 'Maybe he was helping someone learn French because he wanted them to meet Francis, and he accidentally kept it,' she thought. But this idea didn't make sense either. 'Then why would he tell the person not to speak French.'

The crazy ideas of what a simple note could imply was making her head hurt. There was only way to find out the truth of the note, and that was asking Matthew himself. Having made up her mind she walked out of the room and headed towards the kitchen.

Alfred had just poured himself a cup of coffee when Elizabeta came walking into the kitchen. He noticed that that she was holding a piece of paper in her hand, and his stomach dropped when he recognized it. It was over. Elizabeta was already suspicious of him, but now she found a paper that wouldn't make sense for Matthew to have. Alfred didn't dare say anything to not make the hole he was in any bigger.

Elizabeta took a deep breath and spoke. "I've been having suspicions the entire time that you've been back. Your behavior has been weird lately, and your eating habits have drastically changed." She held up the paper that she was holding in her hand. "And know I find this. There is one solution I can see for all of this that would make sense, but I have been putting it off as impossible. Now I would like to hear the explanation that you have for all of this."

Alfred's first thought was to lie. In fact he was already formatting a lie in his head to try and explain everything. But he was sick of lying all the time. For once he just wanted to tell the truth.

"I don't have any explanation," he said. "I'm Alfred, not Matthew." Alfred didn't know what to expect from Elizabeta. He was half expecting to get hit for deceiving her this entire time. So he was surprised when the exact opposite happened.

Elizabeta let the paper she was holding float down to the floor to hug Alfred. Not knowing what else to do, Alfred just hugged her back. "You've grown so big. The last time I saw you, you were just a baby." Elizabeta let go of him and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Why are you here? Is Matthew with Arthur?"

Alfred nodded. "We switched places to bring Papa and Dad back together when they had to un-switch us," explained Alfred. "Maybe you can give us some ideas to help Papa and Dad realize they love each other still."

Elizabeta lowered her head and tried to hide the sadness in her face, but Alfred saw it. He was confused. Why was she sad when he told her about his plan to bring their parents together?

"Listen. You're plan might not work out."

"What?"

Elizabeta looked at him with pity. "I won't tell you, because you'll find out at by the end of the day."

"What is it? You keep on avoiding this subject of something awful that I'm going to find out. Just tell me already! I won't tell Papa that you told me."

Elizabeta shook her head. "Your father will be coming home in a few minutes. It would be best for him to explain to you." Right after she said that, they heard the sound of the car pulling into the driveway. "That would be him. I'll leave you too alone." She kissed the top of his forehead and stroked his hair. "I won't tell Francis or Antonio your secret. I do except a report later of how Matthew is doing though." And with that she left Alfred alone in the kitchen with nothing but his worries.

Alfred composed himself so Francis wouldn't suspect anything, and greeted him at the front door. "There you are! You ready to go ride horses," asked Francis.

"Yes Papa." Alfred followed Francis to the stables where Antonio was working at the moment. When he saw them, he waved.

"I have Daisy and Peggy all saddled up and ready to go." Not knowing which one to ride, Alfred just picked the one nearest to him which happened to be Daisy. When Antonio saw that he picked Daisy he said, "Careful. Daisy is in a biting mood today."

When Antonio said this, he was just about to pet Daisy on the nuzzle. Deciding he didn't want to get bit by a horse today he just petted her on the neck. Alfred mounted the horse and went over mentally everything he knew about riding a horse. It wasn't that he didn't know how to ride a horse, but it had been a while since he had.

After Francis was mounted up, they started riding. At first Alfred started off slow. Not only was he getting reacquainted with riding a horse, but he had no idea where the trail was at all. So he just stuck close to Francis at a walk.

"How was work," asked Alfred.

"It was ok. I would have been better, but I seemed to have hired some idiots."

"You can always just fire them and hire some people that aren't stupid."

Francis laughed. "Not everybody is stupid. And if it were that easy to get rid of people and hire new people that are smart, I would have been able to do that a long time ago."

They got to the top of a hill that looked over a grassy area, when Francis stopped. Alfred halted right beside Francis and looked at the view before them.

"It's a nice view isn't it. If I ever have a bad day I can come here and just relax," said Francis. He turned to Alfred and asked, "What do you think of Vicky?"

Alfred was very tempted to continue his the truth speaking streak and say what he really thought of Vicky. That she was a self centered bitch who he was way too good for. But Matthew wouldn't say as something that rude so he decided to lie, once again.

Alfred shrugged and nonchalantly said, "She's ok."

"That's good." Francis paused to think his next words carefully before continuing to speak. "I have something that I've been meaning to tell you for a while."

Alfred knew what was going on, and he didn't want to hear what he was going to say next. Especially not with a opener about Vicky. Alfred could see the stables from were they were and came up with a plan. He got the horse to move and quickly speed up to a gallop.

"Race you back," he shouted behind his back.

Francis tried to protest. "Wait, I need to tell you something." Alfred pretended that he didn't hear what Francis just said and continued to race towards the stables. Since he had a head start he was able to get to the stables before Francis was able to.

He dismounted and wondered where he could hide until Francis decided he wasn't going to talk to him about Vicky again. He headed toward the bench under the willow tree, sat down, and hoped that Francis would give up. Unluckily for him Francis seemed pretty intent on finishing up what he was talking about earlier.

It was a few minutes later when Francis found him at the bench. Alfred tried really hard not to look like he was really just looking at the scenery around him. 'Maybe if I look like I'm busy he won't talk to me.' So Alfred pulled out his phone and started playing angry birds on it.

"There is something I want to talk to you about," said Francis. Alfred didn't even look up from his phone and said, "Sure." He hoped that if he sounded like he wasn't paying attention that Francis would not talk to him.

"Will you stop playing that game for a few seconds so I can talk to you?" Alfred reluctantly turned off his phone. Francis sat down next to him and said, "How would you like it if Vicky became part of our family?"

Alfred put on one his biggest fake smiles and said, "That would wonderful."

"Really?"

"Yep. It would be great for us to have someone else living here. Will she be maid like Elizabeta?" 'This isn't happening! This isn't what's supposed to happen!'

"I'm not going to hire Vicky to work at the house. I'm going to marry her." Alfred felt a tiny bit of himself break when he heard that. He had been ignoring all the hints that he had been given about what was going to happen. But since he couldn't face the fact of it really happening, he just ignored everything. He had even suspected that this was going to happen, but he didn't want to admit it. So right now he just felt like exploding. Which is what he did.

"You're going to what!" Francis was taken back a bit. He probably didn't expect sweet little Matthew to yell at him. Little did he know that Matthew had quite a temper once you got him mad.

"She's half your age! And you've only known her for less than two months! How can you decide to marry somebody so shortly!"

"Listen Matthew..."

"No, you listen to me! I've been keeping this bottled up for so long you're going to hear it." Alfred took a deep breath and continued yelling. "Why the hell did you have to go and marry such a bitch! You're ruining our plans that we worked on so long for!"

Tears started flowing down Alfred's face, but he hid them by turning around and running into the house. Once the door shut behind him, he dried his tears off and started heading up to his room. He was going inform Matthew his hunch was right, when he saw Vicky in the living room. Alfred gave her a look that could kill, but unluckily she didn't keel over.

"I see you know now," she said in a conceited way.

Alfred was surprised that he was able to control his voice when he said, "You will never be able to marry Papa. I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen."

She slowly got up and stood in front of Alfred. She grabbed his chin so he was forced to look at her in the eye. "Now let me tell you something. I'm going to marry your father and their is nothing that you can do about it." She had such a smug smile on her face that Alfred just wanted to punch her.

Instead he said, "Well the two of us are going to stop you, and trust me their is nothing that we can't accomplish. And we have a plan. It may have hit a bump in the road, but we will make it work. Plus we're not alone."

Alfred swatted away her hand and walked up the stairs. He took his phone out of his pocket and started dialing Matthew's number. Matthew wouldn't like it, but it was time to bring their parents back together.

* * *

After the phone conversation with Alfred was over, Matthew hadn't gone back to sleep. The problem was, he just couldn't get back to sleep. The fact that Alfred had the nerve to suggest that they should switch places infuriated him. He only had a couple of days with Arthur. He needed more time to try to catch up the years that he had lost.

Matthew rolled over in bed, and tried to get some sleep. This didn't help him at all. The anger at Alfred was still boiling in his blood. 'I was having a great day until he ruined it.' Thinking back on it, he probably shouldn't have hung up like that. There was still more that he wanted to talk about, and he was really curious about how things were going on at home.

Matthew sighed. In retrospect, maybe he should have done things differently. After all, Alfred wanted to spend as much time with Francis as possible as well. So suggesting they switches places soon means that something came up that really worried him. 'I'll apologize to him tomorrow when he calls. Then maybe we can figure out if this girl is really an issue.' Having forgiven Alfred, Matthew found out that he calmed down considerably. He yawned and closed his eyes and as he drifted off to sleep.

When Matthew woke up next morning, he just laid in bed. When he smelled breakfast being cooked, he groaned. He would have stayed in bed a little longer, just relaxing. But Alfred would have immediately gotten out of bed at the smell of food. Knowing him it might even wake him up.

Matthew turned over and decided that he would at least rest for a few more minutes before eating. 'Maybe if I wait long enough nobody will be in the dining room so I don't have to eat so much.' After a while Matthew was bored of just laying in his bed, so he got up.

In the dining room Arthur wasn't there, so for a second Matthew thought he would be able to eat less. However he was wrong. Kiku saw him and soon laid down a plate of food. "Today was eggs and toast so I just made the usual amount that you eat. Arthur-san finished a while ago and told me to tell you to meet him in the living room when you're done," said Kiku.

Matthew nodded and then looked at the plate. He was astounded at the number of eggs that there was on the plate along with a tower of bread. Matthew just sat down and started the work that would require for him to finish everything. He tried to hurry and eat everything quickly so it wouldn't take him forever, but it was still taking him so long to eat his food.

Eventually he got to the point where there was two eggs and a piece of toast, but he couldn't eat another bite. Matthew felt like if he ate any more that he just might explode. So when Kiku wasn't looking he dumped the rest of the food in the garbage can. It didn't feel right to do that, but there was no way he was going to finish the rest of the food. Matthew had seen Alfred eat more for breakfast, so he knew that if their was anything left on the plate that Kiku would definitely get suspicious of him.

Matthew put his plate back on the table and told Kiku that he was finished. He then went to the living room where Arthur was waiting for him. Arthur looked up from the book that he was reading and smiled at Matthew. "There you are. I was thinking that we would play some football in the park today and get lunch afterwards."

"That sounds great," said Matthew. On a second thought he added, "But be warned! I'm going to kick your butt this time!"

Arthur closed his book and said, "We'll see about that."

"I'm serious! I'm going to beat you so bad that you won't know what happened."

Arthur smirked. "You want to have a bet then?"

Matthew nodded. "If I win I can stay up as long as I want for a month."

"Fine. And if I win you're going to start changing your diet. With all that food that you're eating, your starting to get a bit chubby."

Matthew self-consciously hugged his stomach. "I'm not getting fat," he whined.

"Just because you say that doesn't mean you're going to suddenly stop being fat."

"I'm not fat," Matthew mumbled. He knew that Alfred was a bit pudgy, but he wasn't. Right? 'What if I'm starting to get fat because of all that food I've been eating lately!' Matthew was now really self conscious of the fact that he might have gained weight.

"Whatever you say. Just know that if I win you will only be able to eat hamburgers once a week."

Matthew nodded, not really hearing what Arthur was saying. He was thinking about how when he got back later he was going to weigh himself just to make sure he really didn't gain any weight.

Matthew was still thinking about the possibility of gaining weight on the way to park that, he had forgotten to talk. Arthur noticed and said, "Are you still mad at that fat comment?"

"No," lied Matthew. "I'm thinking up ways I can beat you."

"I've got experience on my side so it will be hard for you to think up a strategy that can beat me."

"I got youth on my side! So of course I can beat up an old fart like you!"

Arthur pretended to sound insulted. "I'm not that old."

"Yes you are."

"I wonder how you'll feel when this 'old fart' beats you."

"Not going to happen!"

Arthur smiled. "We'll see." By then they were at the park. Arthur got out of the car and got the ball out of the trunk while Matthew just stared at the scenery around him.

Matthew wasn't expecting much for the park since it was in a middle of a city, but he did liking seeing some green. Even though he would have like to have seen more trees, some trees were better than nothing.

Once Arthur got the ball out of the car, they tried to find a spot where they could play. Eventually they were able to find a relatively clear spot to play. One of the goals was a space in between two trees and the other was a tree and a trash can.

At first, Matthew felt like he a good chance of winning. He was able to score a goal easily while Arthur hadn't been able to score yet. However it soon became apparent that Arthur was just letting him have a head start. It didn't take long before the score was 3-1 with Arthur winning.

When Arthur scored another goal Matthew groaned. "Best out of 10," he panted. Arthur shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to me. I'm going to beat you no matter how long we play for." Matthew was then able to score another couple of goals, while only letting Arthur get one. Age was starting to slow Arthur down, but it wasn't enough. The last goal that he scored, gave Arthur the win.

"What was that about making me lose," taunted Arthur.

"Shut up," was all that Matthew said. Arthur just laughed at him.

He piked up the ball and said, "Let's go get lunch. And this time we're going to go at a restaurant and not McDonalds."

Matthew nodded and didn't complain. If there was one good thing that came out of this he might not have to eat as much.

They were starting to bicker back and forth about where they were going to eat. In the end they both decided that since Arthur won the football game he could pick where they were going to eat. So Arthur decided to go to one of his favorite pubs after he promised he wouldn't drink.

When they got their, Arthur ordered food for both of them, fish and chips. It seemed that the diet was going to start right away. Matthew didn't care since that solved the issue of him trying to guess what Alfred would get for lunch.

While they were eating there was a match going on, so most of their attention was on the telly. Although Matthew really didn't care who was going to win, he still found it enjoyable to watch it with Arthur. After the match was finished, they had to go home. Arthur had to make a few calls for work, and Matthew needed to fulfill the desire to weigh himself.

When they got home, Matthew was walking in the upstairs hallway to get to the bathroom when he meet Kiku.

"Hello Kiku," he said.

"Hello. Matthew-san," said Kiku. Matthew stopped in his tracks and wondered if he misheard what Kiku said. "It's no use to try and lie to me. I found out the secret you have been keeping this entire time."

"How," whispered Matthew. Without knowing it, he slipped back into his original voice.

"There had been little clues here and there, but I put everything together when I saw the picture in your closet."

'Of course he would be in my closet! He puts my clothes away. Why didn't I think about that?' Matthew's panic was obvious in his face. "Are you going to tell Dad now?"

Kiku shook his head. "Why would I do that? I have a feeling what you and Alfred-san are trying to do, and I have to admit it would be a nice thing for that to happen."

"You mean it."

"Hai. I must admit it made me happy when I saw that picture whole again."

"Thank you. For keeping this a secret from Dad."

"It's no problem. If you need any help just ask me. Also help me out with making dinner today so we can talk more. I have some questions that I want to ask you." Matthew nodded and watched Kiku walk away. For some odd reason he felt relieved that someone finally knew the truth. Now at least he would have to lie to one less person.

He then remembered his original reason for going upstairs and continued to the bathroom. Finding the scale he stepped on it and looked at the weight that came up. He stared at how much it said he weighed and could have sworn that his weight increased by a pound since last time he weighed himself. But since his memory was a bit hazy on his exact weight he decided just to keep track from now on.

Matthew didn't feel like playing video games, so he just turned on the TV and watched random shows until Kiku got him to help out with cooking. He was mostly helping out with chopping stuff, but since Arthur never ventured near the kitchen they were able to talk about anything without worrying about being over heard.

"So how is Alfred-san doing," asked Kiku.

"He's fine. I'm sure he might be slightly hungry since he has to eat less to act like me."

"What exactly is the plan to get them back together?"

"The details are a bit rough, but the general plan is for them to bring them back together when they have to un-switch us. And when they do that we do something to make them realize they still love each other. We asked them some questions to get some idea of what to do, but we still don't know everything."

"Do you think Francis-san still loves Arthur-san?"

Matthew nodded. "Some of the little things that he does makes me believe he still loves him. For instance he constantly brings people home, but he is never serious about any of them." Then Matthew remembered the girl Alfred was worried about. "Well...there may be a slight problem."

Kiku was about to ask what it was, when Matthew's cell phone rang. He checked to see who it was and saw that it was Alfred. "It's Alfred. He doesn't usually call until later." Worry creeped into his mind, but he tried to crush it down. Maybe he was just calling to chat. Either way, Matthew thought it would be best to apologize about last night.

He answered the phone and said, "I'm sorry I got mad at you last night."

"I'm sorry too, but we got a big problem."

"Did somebody get hurt?"

"No. Papa's getting married."

Matthew almost dropped the phone. "What!"

"It's this lady called Vicky that I was worried about earlier. He just told me a few minutes ago that they were getting married."

"Is there anything that we can still do?" Matthew saw their carefully laid out plan starting to unravel. But he was going to try and do anything that he could to try and put it back together.

"I don't know. If we bring them back together we might be able to do something. But if we do anything it's got to be soon. They're supposed to get married in a couple of weeks.

"I'll come soon. I'll let Dad know that we switched places so he brings me back."

"All right. I have to go and talk to Elizabeta. She might have some ideas of what we can do. Oh by the way, she figured out who I was."

"So did Kiku."

"Well...goodbye. And I promise that I did everything I could to stop them."

"Don't worry. I'm sure there's not much you could have done. Goodbye."

Matthew hung up the phone and turned to Kiku. "It looks like Papa is going to get married and it's up to us to show him what a huge mistake he is making."

**Hai is Japanese for yes. This story has now reached 100 followers, which is a huge milestone for me. Thank you all for making this by far my most successful story yet. Please review!**


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